Much has been made about the atmosphere on Friday night when Michael Conlan has his first fight as a pro in Dublin.
He boxes Jack Bateson at 3Arena, and it is an important fight for both.
But it is Leeds’ Bateson who will be stepping into the lion’s den, and that is something he says he is ready for.
“You know what it is?” Bateson asks BoxingScene rhetorically. “I have thought about it. I’ve not thought too deeply about it, but I’ve thought it’s more like [making] the weight and stuff is going to be a pain in the arse. Listen, I’m prepared for it. Everyone’s said it to me [about the pro-Conlan crowd], so I’ve got to be prepared for it now. I’ve got to embrace this opportunity because I’ll probably look back at my career when I’m older and think, ‘Wow, that was special.’ Even though all those people from Ireland might not be there specifically for me, they’re there to watch me and Mick fight. Listen, I’ve got to take this on. This is my opportunity. I’ve been telling people this is my ticket. I’ve just got to take it with both hands. If I perform, I know I can win. I just need to perform, do what I do every day in the gym, and it could be very special.”
Conlan and Bateson are well familiar with one another, having risen through the amateur ranks together and sparred as pros.
“Obviously, he was Team Ireland and I was on the Great Britain squad,” says Bateson. “We’re different weights, but we were always in the same tournaments and stuff. But yeah, I never thought our paths would eventually cross. But now we’re here. I think at the time we were different weights. Obviously, he was featherweight, I was a super bantam. But he was ahead of me in terms of pushing on for world titles. I was, I think at the time, looking at English titles. And obviously, our careers have changed over the last couple of years. And we’ve moved up and down weights.”
The fact that Conlan summoned Bateson to spar, back when Conlan was being coached by Adam Booth, meant that the Irishman, too, felt a future meeting between the pair was unlikely. Despite Conlan suffering consecutive defeats before a year out of the sport, Bateson still rates his opponent highly.
“I think he’s had a brilliant career,” the Englishman adds. “I do believe that it’s a very winnable fight for me, especially now. One fact being, I’m matured now and I’m 31 years old. I’ve come into peak strength. It’s a good weight for me at featherweight. I don’t think featherweight will suit Mick as much as it suits me. And I do believe his best days are probably behind him.”
There are plenty who feel that, after stoppage losses to Luis Lopez, Jordan Gill and Leigh Wood, the Irishman is vulnerable, but Bateson is not reading too much into that.
“I think the guys who have knocked him out have been big punchers,” Bateson explains. “I think even Jordan Gill, I’m hearing from people, he can punch quite hard. And it’s a tough one, really. The guys he’s lost against, he’s been at top level. He’s fought at a much higher level than me. I do believe one of the reasons they’ve picked me as an opponent is because I’m not known as a notorious puncher and they think I can’t punch. But it’s my aim to prove that opinion wrong.”
Bateson recalls being “comfortable” in the spars, but also adds they were technical and not all-out wars. He is certainly not taking confidence from them.
“It’s just boxing. It’s just business,” Bateson adds. “We’ve come to this point, and it’s sort of like the winner can go on to much bigger things, and the loser, we’ve got to think about what we’re doing next. It’s my plan to obviously rip up the script, and no one’s talking about what my next steps are. In fact, before this fight was offered to me, I was sort of in the middle of nowhere, looking for an opportunity after my last fight didn’t go through due to no fault of my own. It’s come at a perfect time, I believe. I’ve stayed in the gym, I’ve stayed loyal to the sport, and like I say, I just need to rip up the script and make people start talking about me finally.”
It has not always been easy. The struggle for motivation with no date in sight is more than some fighters can bear.
“Boxing is one of the most challenging things,” Bateson continues.
“I think, unless you've actually boxed yourself or been involved in boxing, it’s so hard to understand, because when the phone’s not ringing, you’ve not got something in your sight to aim towards, to not have that takeaway, to get up early in the morning and run or to go training, it’s difficult. But that’s where champions are made, and luckily I’ve got a few good loyal sponsors that support me, and without them, you would have to think about doing something else. I’ve got a family now. I’ve got two young girls to support, so it’s a difficult sport. But it’s very, very rewarding. I don’t know where I’d be without it.”
Bateson believes Conlan will afford him plenty of respect, firstly because he can really fight, secondly because one false move and this final act of Conlan’s career will be over.
“I think he respects me, but probably because of exactly that. I feel like he’s got to respect me because he knows that if it doesn’t go as planned, it could be the last straw for him,” Bateson agrees.
“He’s been very respectful of me. But listen, I’ve got a lot of respect for him, and at the end of the day, we’re going to get in there and just do the job.”
Bateson is 20-1-1 (6 KOs), and he’s not fought since a December clash of heads saw his bout with Danny Quartermaine curtailed after two rounds.
It was in 2022 when Bateson lost his undefeated record, stopped in the 12th round against Shabaz Masoud and Jack believes there is still a stigma for fighters who lose their ‘0’.
He believes it proved costly for him.
“For me, I believe it did,” he says. “It did affect my career massively. There’s a lot of people that fall off the bandwagon. It was difficult because I was so, so confident, as you always should be going into that fight. When it happened, I was just devastated. I never thought about losing. It never crossed my mind. When I lost, it was rebuilding, rebuilding. Unfortunately, I didn't have a promotional team behind me. Obviously, I had Probellum at the time, but you know what went on with them.
“I was just left in no-man’s land. Then watching his [Masoud’s] career take off, I’m thinking, it could have been mine. It was the biggest lesson because I’ve realised from that moment it can all end in one night. It’s taken a while to build and rebuild, and I’m still rebuilding. Now I’ve got to win this fight. I'm grateful that this opportunity has come because I do believe I deserve it. I’ve been grafting my whole life for moments like this. I don’t feel like I’ve been given a fair shot all the time. A lot of the lads, when they’ve turned over from the GB squads, they get snapped up straight away. They get signed with a big promotional company. I won two senior ABA titles, European medals, Commonwealth medals. I didn’t get the opportunity, but I’ve kept working. I’ve kept grinding. Hopefully it will pay off.”
