Michael Conlan Puts Olympics Behind Him, Has Big Career Goals

By Thomas Gerbasi

It was the middle finger heard ‘round the world. Two of them actually, and when it was all over after Michael Conlan let the judges know how he felt about the larcenous decision he lost to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics, the Belfast product thought his response was going to hamper his professional future in the sport he loved.

“I thought I had messed things up and that people aren’t gonna want to be involved with me,” Conlan said. “But it was the complete opposite.”

That’s putting it mildly. Call it perfect timing, but Conlan’s emotional and honest response to the defeat was almost a rallying cry for fans that had gotten sick and tired of seeing bad decisions and the corruption and politics that run rampant through amateur boxing. Conlan spoke for everyone that night, and when the world got behind him, it was a shocker.

“What happened was instinct, and the fact that it took off and people supported me and praised me over what I done, it was really pleasing because at the time I was absolutely gutted.”

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon in New York City, and the pain of that Olympic disappointment is distant memory. In the Big Apple to announce his pro debut at Madison Square Garden’s Theater on March 17 against Tim Ibarra, it’s all about the future, not the past, for the 25-year-old junior featherweight.

“I’m really looking forward to it and I’m very, very grateful for this opportunity Top Rank has given me,” Conlan said. “I think if I were with any other promoter in the world, I wouldn’t be having Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick’s Day.”

With any other debuting prospect in the headlining position, Top Rank wouldn’t be putting on a show like this either, but Conlan, who won a bronze medal for Northern Ireland in the 2012 Olympics, has the star potential to pull it off. But being so popular so soon has its drawbacks, and with this being a business you can’t afford to have distractions in, it was no surprise that Conlan has opted to move to Los Angeles to live and train as he pursues a world championship.

“It’s very, very important,” he said of putting his full focus on his fight career in California. “I felt that when I was back home, I tried to do too much. They were all nice things to do, but you need to have a hundred percent focus on boxing if you want to be the best boxer in the world. So I felt coming out here to America and living in LA, I’m relatively unknown, so it’s a different kind of living for me and I’m able to focus completely on boxing, which is great.”

And he couldn’t have picked a better place to get that focus than with Manny Robles, who has a gang of killers ready to spar with Conlan and who also trains Conlan’s fellow Irishman Jason Quigley.

“He’s got the likes of Oscar Valdez, Jesse Magdaleno, Emilio Sanchez and Manny Robles Jr.,” Conlan said of his new training partners. “There’s a lot of great fighters in that gym that are in my weight division, so that’s what I need. The saying in boxing is that when you’re training, the coach is 50 percent, but your sparring partners are the other 50 percent, and I feel you need to have both.”

He’s got both. Now it’s down to hard work and getting ready for March 17, and when he returns to New York, he’ll be bringing backup in the form of UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who is expected to walk Conlan to the ring on fight night.

“I spoke with Conor last year, and we sat there and spoke, and I said, ‘Listen, I’d like to have you walking out on my debut, carrying the Tricolour,’” Conlan recalled. “And he told me, ‘You have my word.’ He shook my hand and the rest is history, so come March 17th, he’ll be with me when I walk to the ring.”

With that, another career will begin for another Irish star. It used to be a rarity to hear that. Now, with several fighters in boxing and MMA making their name in their respective sports, it’s a whole new world for Irish fighters, and as Conlan wants to make clear, “There’s no northern or republic, it’s just Ireland.”

And he’s not going to be the last one you hear about.

“I think we’re just advancing as a people,” Conlan said when asked about the Irish resurgence in combat sports “We’ve always been a great fighting nation, but we’ve never had the opportunities. Now, the opportunities are rising, people are grabbing them with both hands, and you’re seeing the likes of Conor McGregor and Carl Frampton take over their sports, and that’s what everybody else wants to do. They’re getting that confidence in themselves, whereas before, a lot of people would have been quite shy and into themselves, and never really speak brashly about themselves. But McGregor just changed the whole thing for everybody, and everybody’s stepping up to the plate and doing their bit, and they’re all becoming successful.”

Michael Conlan expects to be the next. He’s already done his part in the amateur ranks. Now he’s chasing pro gold, but one title won’t be enough for him. He’s looking for at least three, and then, he might just be satisfied. But for now, hunger is all he knows.

“The Olympic Games are done, there’s nothing I can do to change it,” he said. “I’m already a bronze medalist, I’m a world amateur champion, European champion, Commonwealth champion and I’ve won many, many international medals throughout the years. So what happened in the Olympics happened, and all I can do is look forward. I’m looking forward to getting this first fight underneath me, and once that happens, I win my world title, then I move up a division and win another world title, then move up another division and I win my third world title. That’s my plan in my head, that’s what I’ll do, and once I do that, that’s when I’ll be happy. If in five years’ time, six years’ time – that’s the kind of time frame I’m looking to do this – I would consider retirement then. Retire happy with everything, all my faculties intact, and my money in the bank.”