By Elliot Foster
Michael Conlan will headline on his debut next year.
The 24-year-old from Belfast has been rubber-stamped as the top-of-the-bill fighter when he makes his bow in the paid code.
Conlan, who turned over promotionally under Top Rank and MGM Marbella managerially last month following his calling out of Olympic officials in Rio this summer after his controversial loss in the bantamweight quarter-finals.
He blasted the judges, accusing them of taking bribes and saluted them with his middle finger as he left the ring.
All the AIBA officials who worked the Olympics were subsequently suspended after an internal investigation.
Conlan, who’ll open his account as a pro on March 17, 2017 at Madison Square Garden, is set to campaign at super-bantamweight.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum confirmed the news of Conlan’s debut headlining status to Ring TV on Monday, saying that “thousands of people are going to be flying in from Ireland to New York to watch it” and that “it’s going to be an unbelievable event.”
No opponent has yet been set for Conlan’s first start, but it is expected to be a solid foe, considering the status handed to the talented Ulsterman so early on.
The aforementioned Arum has likened Conlan, whose brother Jamie is the Commonwealth champion at super-flyweight and defends his crown on November 5 at Belfast’s Titanic Exhibition Centre, to former WBA featherweight champion Barry McGuigan.
The card headlined by the younger sibling is set to also feature Puerto Rico’s Felix Verdejo, the WBO’s mandatory challenger at lightweight, in his return from injury following a motorbike crash in August.
