Usually, it’s Michael Conlan’s opponent who is stepping in to enemy territory.
Often, the popular Irishman, a decorated amateur and an unbeaten professional, is the one pulling in the crowds.
He’s a sure-fire ticket-selling success in Belfast or New York but on Saturday next week, he goes to the hometown of Leigh Wood, WBA featherweight champion, to box for his first world title as a pro.
Wood, who was crowned after a stunning win over Can Xu last year, will have thousands supporting him, but Conlan knows a good number will travel from Ireland to watch him, too. Regardless, he is not daunted by what might greet him on the biggest night of his pro career to date.
“If we talk about how much I’ve fought around the world in people’s back gardens it’s nothing,” Conlan said. “I’ve done it umpteen times. I’ve went to countries and beaten home fighters in big competitions so I’m not worried about it. I know how many people are travelling from Ireland so it probably will feel like I’m fighting in Belfast in a sense but it’s nice to go in to someone’s back garden and beat them in their hometown because the win will mean all the more when I do.”
Wood hasn’t boxed since his signature win over Xu and while Conlan admires the way Wood boxed that night, he thought Xu was poor, also.
“Combination,” he said, when asked whether the outcome was because Wood was brilliant or Xu wasn’t allowed to get started. “Can Xu hadn’t boxed in 18 months, obviously, but Leigh Wood put on the performance of his career, pulled off a fantastic win, looked great doing it and Can Xu didn’t look like he had any ability to adjust or adapt to anything Leigh Wood was doing and Leigh Wood held his ground, punched when he needed to punch, took his breaks when he needed to and he was very good that night.”
Conlan isn’t just confident of winning, he is confident of winning well. He’s always had a championship mentality and so he’s not concerned about scorecards, despite the controversy that came after Josh Taylor’s undisputed super lightweight title defence against Jack Catterall last weekend.
“I had Catterall by four or five rounds,” Conlan went on. “Have I any concerns? No, because I think the eyes of the world are on us after what happened so I think it will be a lot more fair. In a selfish way, I’m kind of happy [with what happened] last week. It’s better than it happening to me because I don’t want to flip the bird again! If it didn’t happen last weekend, it definitely could have happened this weekend. The fact that now everybody will be looking the scrutiny will be on all judges, not just UK judges.”
Conlan references the bird, it’s what he infamously did when he was controversially beaten in the Rio Olympics. The picture went viral and it gave him a launchpad in the pros that allowed him to negotiate well. With hindsight, he sees the benefit of being robbed although he doesn’t pay much mind to the possibility of it happening again.
“I’ll be honest,” he went on. “It’s something I don’t think about and something I don’t even care about. It doesn’t matter what happens with the judges because I’m going to win this so cleanly and so well it’s impossible for it to happen. And if it did, and I flipped the bird again, maybe it would benefit me again, so who knows?”
There is no doubt he feels he has Wood’s number. He doesn’t talk about it being close, competitive or hard. He’s visualized going in and outboxing Wood, silencing the home crowd, even though he believes Wood will improve as the champion.
“One hundred percent,” Conlan said. “Anyone who wins a world title, your level naturally goes up with the confidence and belief in his ability. I think he kind of missed the wave a bit because he hasn’t competed since he won it, and that was back in July, so he’s missed that hype-train to help build his confidence even more and I think it will be sucked clean out of him in a few rounds. I believe I’ll go in there and win comfortably but I’ve still got to go in and do that. That’s all it is. I’ve got to go in and put in my performance and walk out world champion. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been a world champion in waiting. It’s my destiny, I know. I’ve just got to go in and realise that and live that dream which I’ve been feeling and saying for a long time.”
Through his professional journey, he’s been coached by Adam Booth, and Conlan gives his trainer full credit for where he is today. They are close and always have been.
“I wouldn’t be in the position I am now if it wasn’t for Adam,” said Conlan. “He’s someone who means the world to me. He’s helped me develop as a fighter and a human being, as a person, outside the ring, everything. His philosophies, when you think about boxing and life philosophies, he has a big influence in everything I do now and he’s a very important person in my life and my career and he’s made me the best fighter I can be.”
Conlan has been away in camp for eight weeks. He’s missing his kids but he knows it’s the job. He needs to beat Wood to give his family a better future, and he needs to beat Wood to get to where he wants to go in his career. He wants three-four fights this year.
“I want to become a world champion,” he stated. “I want to aim to unify, three or four fights and next year hopefully if I’ve unified moving up is definitely a possibility. In the immediate term, beat Leigh Wood, do it well, go on holiday, comeback and reassess everything because you’ve got to look at next options. It could be a unification fight, it could be a fight with [Leo] Santa Cruz, there’s fights there in the Top Rank stable with other world champions and many different things that can happen after this fight. First defense? I would love it to be in the Falls Park in Belfast. That would be unbelievable. The first world title fight ever in that Park. I think we’d get 16,000 in this year, it’s a possibility. But if someone said a unification fight with Josh Warrington in the big room in The Garden, I’d say let’s do that then. That’s big. We’re talking big money there. Anything like that sounds nice to me.”