Michael Conlan (boxer)


Michael John Conlan is an Irish professional boxer from Northern Ireland.
A world, European, and Commonwealth champion, and an Olympic bronze medallist, Conlan turned professional in 2016 after the 2016 Olympic Games after controversy over his loss. He was RTÉ Sports Person of the Year in 2015.
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Early life

Michael John Conlan was born on 19 November 1991 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father and coach, John, hails from Drimnagh, Dublin. His elder brother, Jamie, was also a professional boxer.

Amateur career

Domestic

Conlan won his first Ulster novice title at the age of 11, and is a three-time Irish national flyweight champion.

International competition

In his debut match at the 2012 Olympics, he defeated Ghanaian boxer Duke Micah, having received a bye in the first round. In the quarter final, he defeated French boxer Nordine Oubaali by 22–18, guaranteeing himself a bronze medal. Conlan lost his semi-final bout against Cuba's eventual gold medallist Robeisy Ramírez.
Conlan won a silver medal at the 2013 European Championships in Minsk, losing to Welsh boxer Andrew Selby by 1:2.

Commonwealth and European champion

Conlan moved up from flyweight to bantamweight and on 2 August 2014 won the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, beating England's Qais Ashfaq. Conlan won despite only returning to training two weeks prior following an injury.
2015 started off with Conlan competing in the World Series of Boxing for Italia Thunder. Conlan and his teammate, fellow Irish boxer Paddy Barnes, would compete in seven fights over 14 weeks in an effort to try and secure qualification for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Conlan racked up five wins out of seven, which was just enough for him to finish second in the individual ranking and secure an Olympic berth in Rio.
In August 2015 Conlan won the European Championships at bantamweight and scooped Boxer of the Tournament. He competed in four fights beating; French, Danish, Italian and Great Britain representatives. He only lost 3 rounds out of a possible 36 on individual judges' scorecards. His final was a repeat of the 2014 Commonwealth Games final against Great Britain's Qais Ashfaq. Conlan took the first in what was a very technical encounter, the Belfast man took the second on a split, by the third round the No.1 seed was in cruise control which saw him take the round and the fight unanimously to retain Ireland's hold on the European bantamweight title and the best boxer award.

World champion

In October 2015, Conlan won the gold medal in the bantamweight division at the 2015 World Championships. It was Ireland's first ever male World Championship gold medal.
In December 2015, Conlan was named as the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year for 2015.

2016 Olympics

In the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Conlan endured "daylight robbery" by losing his quarter-final on a "truly awful verdict to a blood-spattered Russian" Vladimir Nikitin. Conlan protested in the ring and said that he had been "robbed" of his Olympic dream.
The Russian subsequently withdrew from his semi-final due to the seriousness of injuries inflicted by Conlan.

2012 Summer Olympics

Won bronze in the 2012 Summer Olympics at flyweight. Results were:

2013 European Championships

Won silver in the 2013 European Championships at flyweight. Results were:
  • Narek Abgaryan: Won
  • Siarhej Loban: Won
  • Ovik Oganisyan: Won
  • Andrew Selby: Lost

2014 Commonwealth Games

Conlan won Gold in the Commonwealth Games at bantamweight. Results were:

2015 European Championships

Conlan won Gold in the European Championships at bantamweight. Results were:
  • Anthony Bret: Won
  • Frederik Lundgaard Jensen: Won
  • Francesco Maietta: Won
  • Qais Ashfaq: Won

2015 World Championships

Conlan won Gold in the World Championships at bantamweight. Results were:

2016 Summer Olympics

Conlan lost at the quarter-finals stage in the 2016 Summer Olympics at bantamweight. Results were:

Professional career

Following the 2016 Olympics and his disillusionment with amateur boxing, Conlan reaffirmed his intentions of turning professional. Despite interest from several big promotions and rumours of a deal being struck with Mayweather Promotions, it was Top Rank who secured Conlan's signature. On 23 September, Bob Arum confirmed that Conlan would be making his professional debut at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, on St. Patrick's Day.
On 17 March 2017, Conlan won his first fight as a professional boxer, beating Tim Ibarra by a third round technical knockout at the theatre at Madison Square Garden.
On 3 August 2019, he fought Diego Alberto Ruiz. In front of a packed crowd in his hometown Belfast, Conlan continued his unbeaten streak in the pros and stopped his opponent in nine rounds.
On 14 December, Conlan faced Vladimir Nikitin. It was a much anticipated bout, since Nikitin beat Conlan twice in the amateurs, including once at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Conlan won comfortably on all three scorecards, 100–90, 99–91 and 98–92.
In his next fight, Conlan squared off against Sofiane Takoucht. Conlan started the fight fast, and was dominant throughout most of the fight, assaulting Takoucht with numerous body shots. Some of Conlan's body shots were landing below the belt, for which he was deducted a point on two occasions. In the tenth round, Conlan was just too much for the Frenchman, and the referee stopped the fight, awarding Conlan the tenth-round TKO win.
Conlan won his first bout at the super-bantam weight level on 30 April 2021, beating Ionut Baluta by a majority decision.
Conlan returned to featherweight in his next bout, as he faced T. J. Doheny for the vacant WBA interim featherweight title on 6 August 2021. Conlan won the fight by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the fight 116–111 in his favor, while the third judge scored it 119–108 for him. He scored the sole knockdown of the bout in the fifth round, dropping Doheny with a strike to the body.
Conlan remained in the featherweight level for his fight against Leigh Wood, the current WBA featherweight title holder, on 12 March 2022. He started the fight brightly, scoring a knockdown on Wood in the first round and he continued to dominate until the later rounds when Wood came back into the contest more. Conlan went down in the 11th round, it was scored as a knockdown despite protests from Conlan's corner. In the 12th, with Conlan just being ahead on all the scorecards, Wood improved again and 1:25 into the round he knocked out Conlan, with Conlan falling through the ropes and reportedly being rendered unconscious for "a minute or two". He was quickly taken to hospital, Conlan since has said he is "all good" and his scans were "clear".
On August 6, 2022, Conlan made his ring return at SSE Arena Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He faced three-time world title challenger Miguel Marriaga of Colombia. He won the fight by unanimous decision, scoring three knockdowns in Round 7, 8 and 9.

Controversy

2016 Summer Olympics boxing

In the men's bantamweight quarterfinal stage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Conlan was eliminated by a controversial call, in which Russia's Vladimir Nikitin was awarded the victory. Conlan reacted by raising his middle finger at the judges and delivering a strongly-worded live television interview to RTÉ, accusing officials in amateur boxing of corruption. That decision was one of a number that had fellow international boxers and commentators questioning the integrity of Olympic boxing and the scoring system used.
Conlan was found placing bets on boxing events at the 2016 Summer Olympics, violating the IOC rules. Accordingly, he was sanctioned with a severe reprimand by the Disciplinary Commission of the IOC.

Pro Irish Republican 'ring walk'

In his eleventh professional bout, Conlan arrived in Madison Square Garden with The Wolfe Tones' song Celtic Symphony playing and some of the crowd chanting "Ooh ahh, up the 'Ra". Some, including Northern Irish former world champion Dave McAuley, called for action from boxing regulatory bodies. The niece of an IRA bombing victim suggested that Conlan had "glorified terrorism" and criticised the boxer by suggesting he was the antithesis of other boxers like Barry McGuigan and Carl Frampton who had always strived to keep a cross-community spirit in boxing. Promoter Barney Eastwood echoed McAuley's sentiment, saying it "should never have been allowed to come about". Politicians and boxing coach John Breen also suggested that Conlan will have lost support because of it. Conlan subsequently apologised for his "misjudgement" in using Celtic Symphony as his ring-walk music.

Professional boxing record

No.ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes
23Win20–3Jack BatesonTKO4, 2:505 Sep 20253Arena, Dublin, IrelandWon vacant WBC International featherweight title
22Win19–3Asad Asif KhanPTS87 Mar 2025Brighton Centre, Brighton, England
21Loss18–3Jordan GillTKO7, 1:092 Dec 2023SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern IrelandFor vacant WBA International super-featherweight title
20Loss18–2Luis Alberto LopezTKO5, 1:1427 May 2023SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern IrelandFor IBF featherweight title
19Win18–1Karim GuerfiTKO1, 2:3410 Dec 2022SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
18Win17–1Miguel MarriagaUD106 Aug 2022SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
17Loss16–1Leigh WoodTKO12, 1:2512 Mar 2022Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, EnglandFor WBA (Regular) featherweight title
16Win16–0TJ DohenyUD126 Aug 2021Falls Park, Belfast, Northern IrelandWon vacant WBA interim featherweight title
15Win15–0Ionuț BăluțăMD1230 Apr 2021York Hall, London, EnglandWon vacant WBO Inter-Continental super-bantamweight title
14Win14–0Sofiane TakouchtTKO10, 1:5415 Aug 2020York Hall, London, England
13Win13–0Vladimir NikitinUD1014 Dec 2019Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USRetained WBO Inter-Continental featherweight title
12Win12–0Diego Alberto RuizTKO9, 1:343 Aug 2019Falls Park, Belfast, Northern IrelandRetained WBO Inter-Continental featherweight title;
Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental featherweight title
11Win11–0Ruben HernandezUD1017 Mar 2019The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USRetained WBO Inter-Continental featherweight title
10Win10–0Jason CunninghamUD1022 Dec 2018Manchester Arena, Manchester, EnglandWon vacant WBO Inter-Continental featherweight title
9Win9–0Nicola CipollettaTKO7, 1:5520 Oct 2018Park Theater, Paradise, Nevada, US
8Win8–0Adeilson Dos SantosPTS830 Jun 2018SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
7Win7–0Ibon LarrinagaUD812 May 2018Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US
6Win6–0David BernaTKO2, 1:0017 Mar 2018The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US
5Win5–0Luis Fernando MolinaUD69 Dec 2017The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US
4Win4–0Kenny GuzmanTKO2, 2:5922 Sep 2017Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona, US
3Win3–0Jarrett OwenTKO3, 1:562 Jul 2017Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
2Win2–0Alfredo ChanezTKO3, 2:5926 May 2017UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois, US
1Win1–0Tim IbarraTKO3, 0:5917 Mar 2017The Theatre at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US

Television

In 2013, Conlan appeared in Celebrity Apprentice Ireland on TV3.
In 2016, Conlan appeared in Road To Rio on RTÉ2.

Awards