Michael Conlan To Return on May 12 or 19, in Boston
By Steve Kim
It was with much pomp-and-circumstance that the highly touted Irish Olympian Michael 'Mick' Conlan made his pro debut on Friday night in front of a packed house at the Theater of Madison Square Garden in New York. With his countryman Conor McGregor cheering him on, Conlan scored a third round stoppage of Tim Ibarra.
This event was heavily promoted by Top Rank, who pulled out all the stops for this event. Over 2,000 Irish fans made the overseas trip. With all of that, Conlan admitted to feeling some nerves.
"Yeah, obviously to some extent I wasn't (nervous)," he explained on Saturday morning at the lobby of the Stewart Hotel."I wasn't nervous about the event, it wasn't the walk-in, none of that amped me up. I was more nervous about trying to perform for the crowd and I think that's the only nerves I had, really."
Conlan settled down in the second frame by concentrating downstairs on Ibarra.
"The first round was kind of a blur because it was such a big atmosphere and when I got back to the corner, Manny (Robles) kept telling me, 'go to the body, break the body first and the rest will follow.' But I kept hearing him in the corner, 'work the body, work the body.' Once I started going to the body I felt him wincing an awful lot so I kept going. He eventually folded," said Conlan.
So what's next?
"They were saying Boston, a May date, early May or mid-May," answered Conlan. "I think that is the next date. I'm looking forward to it. Boston will be another kind of Garden event."
Carl Moretti of Top Rank informed BoxingScene.com that this date will either be May 12 or the 19th.
Conlan says he will take a week off before getting back to work (where he will help stablemate Jessie Magdaleno prepare for his April 22nd date). But the first fight is now under his belt and Conlan can just concentrate on his development as a boxer.
"There's a lot less pressure now, once the first ones out of the way," he stated. "Once expectations are out of the way you can just focus on performing and improving."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
