Promoter Kalle Sauerland said signing Irish star Michael Conlan is “a calculated risk.”

The 33-year-old Irishman is coming off losses to Luis Alberto Lopez and Jordan Gill but desperate to not only rediscover his form but land the world title he has always dreamt of holding.

He makes his debut for Wasserman in Brighton on Friday against 19-5-1 Indian Asad Asif Khan.

He came close to winning world honours in 2022 when stopped just 95 seconds from the final bell by Leigh Wood in Nottingham. But as he prepares for his ring return some 15 months on from the Gill nightmare, Conlan has joined forces with Sheffield coach Grant Smith and has kept a largely low profile, commuting between Ireland and Sheffield and focusing on accomplishing what he set out to do having competed at his second Olympics.

“I’ve known him for years, [brother] Jamie [Conlan] as well,” explained Sauerland. “I followed him obviously from the amateur scene, looked at the story and always wanted to... I don’t know if it was the middle finger in Rio but it was a guy that I always gravitated towards.”

Sauerland recalled that infamous moment when, on the wrong side of sporting politics, a disenchanted Conlan raised his middle finger to the judges in Rio having lost a disputed decision in the quarter-finals.

“No, I always liked him,” Sauerland added. “I always thought the natural thing and the correct thing to do was to sign with a big American promoter; the biggest American promoter in Top Rank. I think that was a super-clever move because you captured that Irish audience over there which is ultimately the most lucrative of audiences.”

Sauerland watched admiringly from afar. 

But when the opportunity arose to help Conlan rebuild and push toward another title fight, Kalle – who remained a self-confessed “fanboy” of the Irishman – made his play.

In turn, it reminded him of signing super-middleweight great Mikkel Kessler.

“I watched his first 25 fights and then he smashed up Markus Beyer,” Kalle remembered of Kessler. “We went over and lost the WBC [title] in the unification fight and the next day, I just thought, I’d better sign this guy.”

Sauerland ended up signing the Dane on a wet winter’s day in Monaco, but Kessler had years ahead of him and was an integral part of both the 168lbs era and the Super Six, of which Sauerland, too, was an intrinsic part. 

Conlan’s age and experience led to trouble-free negotiations. Conlan said what he wanted. The Sauerlands said what they could offer. The deal was done.

“We had a very straight conversation on what’s good and what’s not,” Sauerland said. “And I think the fact that we work with a lot of different pros, and a lot of different platforms, is something that doesn’t tie to one specific route and having to go down one specific avenue.

“If you look at the fights that I’d want to make, I think he definitely wants to leave with a rematch [with Wood]. But I think the goal is to end his career with that world title. And if you look at it now, the most exciting featherweight from a UK perspective is Nick Ball. I’ll take any of the four [champions]. So it’s that journey now. But it’s also undergone, obviously, an operational change in the gym. He’s changed things there. Mick will get top of the world rankings very quickly. He has something on the table that none of the others do, and that’s pulling power.”

That pulling power could absorb Conlan into a fight that is more than he needs just now. The Belfast star has talked previously of wanting to go slow, find his mojo again and build momentum away from the grandest of stages. That is why his return is over eight rounds in Brighton at the arena on the seafront. Sauerland is in no rush.

“We could have gone, ‘He’s back, Belfast, right, or New York,’ or wherever it is, you know, done a decent gate, even for some comeback fight, and instead we’ve put him on as the co-feature to Harlem Eubank,” Sauerland added. “I mean, that’s the statement. That’s the answer. And, you know, normally, you look at him, and, wow, you make a few quid there, you know, you’ll get a bigger purse by doing it that way. It’s not about that right now. Forget the promotional set-up, fighters very quickly get used to new promotional set-ups, I’m aware of that. It’s more about how he's working in the gym. And I think that’s the part, where he’s got to get into that comfort zone of how the camps work.”

Asked whether the marquee signing represents a gamble for Sauerland, Kalle paused and replied: “Boxing, when you’re going for a world title, it’s high risks, and especially featherweight at the moment; it’s a tough division. But, at the same time, you’re guiding an athlete who won his first title at 11 years old. When I look at age, he’s 33, I think, so it’s not like he's at the end of his 30s. He’s got a few years left in the sport if he wants it, but it is about making the right choices. Now those right choices, as we all know – that’s why we love boxing – there’s no gimmies when it comes to a featherweight world championship. So it’s a calculated risk.”

It is a fight with the aforementioned Wood that Sauerland would most like to deliver for Conlan, and that aligns with the fighter’s hopes. That is the one Conlan really wants to ‘get back.’

“Talk to him for a couple of minutes, sure,” said Sauerland. “He wants it back. He’s there to get it. I get it. He would have felt that he threw that fight away.”

There was an air about Conlan at the start that he could be a champion in waiting, but now the championship is far from certain. Sauerland, however, still believes the finest chapters in the Conlan story are yet to be written.

“I would argue, though, given his world style, Commonwealth [championships], we all know the Olympic stories, this guy deserves to be a world champion and deserves is a word in boxing that doesn’t really go very far, doesn’t buy you anything, but he does. If you look at it on paper, how’s this guy not going to be a world champion by the time he retires?”

Of course, it is not as easy as that. While Conlan was an extraordinarily gifted amateur and has been big business as a professional, he has not achieved what he wanted to. He is 18-3 with nine stoppage wins, and has worked with Manny Robles, Adam Booth, Pedro Diaz, and now Smith, but has lost his last two, to Lopez and Gill. 

“You’re going to need the rub of the green somewhere along the line as well, which he’s not had,” Sauerland said. “But, again, we’re in a high-stakes sport and it’s not that he wants to compete, go out and make a few fights to earn money. Of course, it’s a professional sport. You want to earn money, but it’s about those big nights still.”