2025-03-08 12:39:45
Michael Conlan doesn’t regret losing out on a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics.
The Irishman took bronze in 2012 before losing in a widely-criticised quarter-final decision against Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin in Rio four years later, but he thinks things turned out for the best for him anyway.
He told Boxing News magazine: “Looking back on it, I wouldn’t change anything because it springboarded me into the pro game and helped me earn really good money.
“Whereas if I had won gold, I probably wouldn’t have had that same publicity and notoriety.
“Everybody knew me, people who were not even involved in boxing knew me. It made me a global superstar in a sense.”
But Michael put too much pressure on himself when he began his professional career with a headline fight against Tim Ibarra at Madison Square Garden in New York.
He said: “I told everybody I was going to win in the third round, so loads of people put money on it and it f***** my whole performance up.
“By the time I got to the third round, I just ran in and tried to get the fight finished, hoping that the ref would jump in – and he did.
“Then I just kept telling people I’d win in the third round. It’s not match-fixing, because anything can happen in boxing – it’s not like I was telling my opponent.
“But my performances were probably s*** because of it.”
Visit Bang Premier (main website)
