FRIDAY night’s Falls Park headline act turned nasty when fighters Michael Conlan and TJ Doheny clashed at a press conference in the Balmoral Hotel.
Conlan claimed Laois native Doheny was “bottling it” after he objected to a switch from 10-round super-bantamweight (122lbs) fight to a 12-round showdown for the WBA ‘interim’ featherweight world title at 124lbs.
Conlan warned the former super-bantam champion that he would “box his ears off” in the Feile an Phobail showdown but Doheny countered: “Sure that’s all you can do, box and run, you couldn’t crack an egg”.
Conlan will be determined to show him that he can do that and more on Friday night. Belfast's world amateur championship says the war of words has fired him up for what is comfortably the biggest test of his professional career so far.
“The fight was agreed at 124 and it doesn’t matter if he says different,” insisted Conlan.
“My aspirations are still at 122, that’s not changing, I’ll still be aiming to go where I’m going at super-bantam but these interim belts open up more opportunities. I’m just looking forward to Friday night.
“He’s been crying all week about this. If he wants to walk away, he can do that and we have replacements ready to go.
“But he’s done a 12-week training camp, he left his family in Australia – is he really going to walk away from a paycheque? He’s not coming for a paycheque, he’s coming to win. He’ll need his brain and his boxing ability to win the fight, not his power – his power isn’t going to win him this fight.
“That bit of aggro has got me fired-up. I’m excited now, it was all a bit too mellow for me but now I’m looking forward to it.”
The Falls Park clash was described by promoter Jamie Conlan as “the best all-Irish fight in history” between Ireland’s two best active male fighters. He said his younger brother had no issue with making super-bantamweight adding that there had been “an adjustment made” to the details of the fight.
However, angry Doheny threatened to pull out over the switch up in weight division.
“He (Michael Conlan) says I’ve no balls,” said Portloaise’s former IBF champion.
“He’s the one who ran from featherweight down to super-bantam to try and win a world title so who’s the one with no balls here?
“I’ve been professional, I’ve turned up here at super-bantam and now they want me to move up to featherweight because he can’t make the weight. I’ve proven myself at 122lb. This is Michael Conlan – he can’t crack an egg – and he’s not going to bother me.
“If this goes at 124, I’m giving up my advantage and it switches back into his favour because I’m going back into his division. I’ve trained hard for this fight and it’s my opportunity to get my spot back after I messed up last year (he lost to Ionut Baluta). I wanted to prove myself in the super-bantam division and now they’re moving me to featherweight where I don’t even belong but hopefully we can get it on.”
Doheny wasn’t found wanting in the trash-talking stakes yesterday and, having established himself as a ‘road warrior’ he won’t be intimidated by the Belfast crowd. He joked about Conlan’s punching power but he does respect his opponent’s ability.
“He’s no flat tyre,” he said.
“I know it’s a tough fight but these are the type of fights that I get up for. For my last performance against Baluta I wasn’t motivated; I was unprofessional in my approach and my performance in that fight but this is a different story.
“There is a lot more at stake, there is a world title shot (at super-bantamweight) after this so I am fully focussed and hopefully we can get the fight on.”
