DOUBLE world title challenger Michael Conlan will continue the pursuit of his top-level dream and the Belfast boxer has his sights set on a comeback following 12 months away from the ring.
“Most likely I’ll be back out in March, a comeback style fight, 8-10 rounds, get that one done and probably fight another three times so four times in total this year,” Conlan told BBC Sport NI.
“It will be a busy one which I need after a nice break and now I’m back at it.”
The Falls Road man has now suffered three career losses, all by stoppage. It’s a far cry from the multi-weight unification projections made when Mick turned over in 2017.
Boxing in front of bumper home crowds, headlining in New York around St. Patrick’s Day and fighting twice for world honours (coming within a whisker the first time, he was ahead on all three scorecards) seems like a pretty successful run. However, walking away without a world strap around the waist simply won’t do.
“[Winning a world title] is the only reason I’m still boxing, I still want to be a world champion, and I still believe I have the ability to go and do that,” he added.
While knockout losses to Leigh Wood and Luis Alberto Lopez, respectively, carry no humiliation, the unforeseen KO defeat at the fists of Jordan Gill in December 2023 raised concern.
Expected to dance around his foe, Conlan started off well but became increasingly easy to hit before Gill upped the tempo and stopped him in round seven.
Refusing to read the apparent writing on the wall, Conlan, 33, took a year out to do some soul-searching, reassess his place in the sport and return with a new trainer, Grant Smith, to guide him towards that slippery world belt.
