According to the Irish Sun, featherweight contender Michael Conlan could be set for a ring return on St Patrick’s Day against WBA number one ranked Hiroshige Osawa, likely to take place in New York.
Japan’s Osawa (36-5-4, 21 KOs) challenged Oscar Valdez for the WBO featherweight title back in 2016 and was stopped in the seventh round of that fight.
He's bounced back since then, winning six out of seven to push his way back up the rankings. He lost a close split decision to Shun Kubo last year.
Conlan (13-0) was in action last month, when got revenge by defeating his former Olympic Games rival, Vladimir Nikitin, comfortably at Madison Square Garden as part of the undercard to Terence Crawford's ring return.
Nikitin had won a controversial bout against Conlan in the Olympic games.
Conlan's coach Adam Booth was very happy with the performance and expects much bigger things for his boxer.
Osawa would be a step up in class for Conlan, who is ranked at number three under the WBA.
“Michael is 13-0, he is getting a lot of experience, a lot of progression and he has shown that he can box, he has shown he can fight,” Booth said.
“He can out-box boxers, he can out-fight fighters. The next thing that is screaming at us now is St Patrick’s Day.”
