Michael Conlan Aims To Impress With Big Win in Tuscon
By Terence Dooley
Michael Conlan (3-0, 3 KOs) features on the undercard of WBO World featherweight titlist Oscar Valdez’s defence against Genesis Servania at the Convention Center in Tuscon, Arizona tonight and the 25-year-old has vowed to wow the American crowd for a fourth time before hopefully securing a fight on home soil at some point in the near future.
A former Olympian, and World, European and Commonwealth gold amateur Champion, he meets Kenny Guzman, also 3-0, but with only one KO, on the Top Rank, Hector Zapari and Peltz Boxing-promoted bill as he bids to continue his professional education with another runout on a big show.
Conlan, though, hopes that he can make a triumphant return to Belfast at some point, in the meantime he is savouring his time in America and enjoys training in LA with Manny Robles.
“I was home for a bit in the summer and it was great,” he said when speaking to David Kelly of the Belfast Telegraph. “It was tough to leave but I have to be here in LA to be successful, this is my business. But I stay in touch with everything back home, I even have a box for the TV that gets me the six o'clock UTV news so I watch that every morning before I go to training.”
His fight against Guzman will take place up at featherweight, where he hopes he can settle and do some damage in the coming years, especially if he continues to improve in the gym and in the ring.
“I feel I've improved every day I've been out here,” he said when talking about his time in LA. “I had to go away to become a professional fighter. I look at some of the guys who were on Team GB and they have gone pro but still have an amateur style.”
He added: “In America, everything is about being smart in the ring, sitting down on your punches, being smart defensively as well as offensively.”
WBO World Super middleweight holder Gilberto Ramirez (35-0, 24 KOs) co-headlines with Valdez, he meets undefeated challenger Jesse Hart (22-0, 18 KOs).
The show will be broadcast live by BoxNation here in the UK.
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