Last month in Belfast, former two division world champion Carl Frampton (25-1, 14 KOs) secured a very solid win with a dominating twelve round unanimous decision over one-time pound-for-pound star Nonito Donaire. In victory, Frampton captured the WBO interim-featherweight title.
But there is another star who is rising up in the ranks in Northern Ireland, unbeaten prospect Michael Conlan (6-0, 5 KOs).
Conlan will return to the ring on Saturday night, when he faces Ibon Larrinaga (10-1, 2 KOs) as part of the Jorge Linares-Vasiliy Lomachenko undercard at Madison Square Garden, New York.
Local fans are already sizing up the two boxers and hope the two of them will eventually collide in the ring.
Frampton, who is five years older at 31, doubts that contest will ever take place.
He believes that Conlan has several years to go before he reaches the top level - and 'The Jackal' expects to be retired by that time period.
"I probably won't ever fight Michael Conlan because of the stages we are at in our career," Frampton said to Nick Parksinon.
"Mick is a friend of mine, a very good fighter but I think he's just kicking off his pro career and I'm in the twilight of mine. Although I'm not thinking about retirement, I'm not going to be hanging around for another six or seven years.
"With Mick, it's a question of when he wins a world, not if. I think he's a quality fighter, very, very skilful so it's about when not if and how many world titles he wins. He's a quality fighter and he has the height to go up through the weights and he's being looked after by Adam Booth who is a fantastic coach.
"So he's got the potential to win many world titles. I think there's the potential for Mick Conlan to be a complete worldwide superstar."
