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Michael Conlan predicts "performance of a lifetime" in Vladimir Nikitin grudge match

Michael Conlan predicts "performance of a lifetime" in Vladimir Nikitin grudge match
Michael Conlan predicts "performance of a lifetime" in Vladimir Nikitin grudge match Michael Conlan predicts "performance of a lifetime" in Vladimir Nikitin grudge match

MICHAEL Conlan travels to New York this weekend predicting “the performance of a lifetime” against Olympic Games nemesis Vladimir Nikitin at Madison Square Garden on December 14.

Conlan and Nikitin met twice during their amateur days and the Russian won both contests. The first was fair and square at the European Championships in 2013 but his second decision win stank out the Rio Centro in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympic Games.

With a score to settle, Conlan intends to erase the memory of those losses in dramatic style at New York’s boxing Mecca.

“It’s going to be special,” he said.

“This is 100 per cent the best I’ve ever felt before a fight. Mentally and physically I feel great. The training camp has gone great, the sparring was brilliant and I’m in a really good place, I’m really, really happy right now.

“I’m in the zone. I had Kiko Martinez in for sparring and then I brought in and top Mexican and it was very realistic to what the Nikitin fight could be like. Everything has went swimmingly to be honest and I’m really excited.

“I know the opponent, I know everything about him. I’ve experienced what can happen with this guy before so I know that I’m fully prepared, I know I have ticked all the boxes and I’m ready to put on the performance of a lifetime.”

Conlan has had some contact with Nikitin on social media in the past but he has refused to have any dealings with the Russian - who pulled out of an appearance at the Feile bill in Falls Park last summer – before their third meeting.

“I’m just ready to go in and take out this body that will be in front of me,” he said.

“I don’t try to get an ill-feeling against anybody before a fight. I just know I have to go in and do the business.”