Michael Conlan and manager Matthew Macklin, with back to camera, chat with the Echo’s Jay Mwamba at last Friday’s 40 Under 40 Awards dinner.
PHOTO: PETER MCDERMOTT
By Jay Mwamba
Exactly three weeks before his much anticipated pro debut at Madison Square Garden, Olympic star Michael Conlan jetted into New York last Friday for the Echo’s 10th annual 40 Under 40 Awards.
The only Irish male to win an amateur world title, Conlan received the Irish Pride Award ahead of his big night at what the promoters are dubbing “the O’Mecca of boxing” on St. Patrick’s Day night.
He faces one Tim Ibarra [4-4, 1 KO] in the six-round main event and joins an elite group of Olympic medalists, including George Foreman, Evander Holyfield and Jermaine Taylor, to make their professional debut at boxing's most hallowed ground.
“I’m just looking forward to the start of a great career on March 17 – It’s going to be huge,” Conlan told the Echo. “I plan to put Ireland back on the map in boxing and I truly believe that I will.”
The super bantamweight has made a seamless transition to the pro ranks and life in California. From Day One, Conlan was driving himself the 20 odd minutes from his seaside Marina del Rey home to Carson where he trains.
Michael Conlan at the announcement of his March 17 bout.
ED MULHOLLAND/TOP RANK
“Since I’ve come over here and started training, I’ve adjusted quite well -- am a fast learner, always has been. I work my [behind] off every single day, no matter what – even in the amateurs I always trained like a professional – this is actually the best camp I’ve had, it’s the best I’ve ever felt.
“It’s seamless, but it’s not painless, it’s a lot of hard work.”
Working under top trainer Manny Robles, Conlan trains six days a week [Sunday is a rest day] for four hours.
He expects to be in peak form and to wow the world come St. Patrick’s Day.
Tickets are pegged at $200, $150, $100, $75 and $50 and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008), and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com.
Tickets for the Conlan-Ibarra fight are also available from Maggie Mae’s Bar at 41-15 Queens Blvd in Sunnyside, Queens. Call 718. 433.3067. The establishment is owned by former pro boxer James Moore.
LEE COMEBACK
The night after Conlan’s debut, Andy Lee, the former world middleweight champion with Limerick roots, ends a 14-month layoff with an eight round contest against KeAndrae Leatherwood in Madison Square Garden’s main arena.
The bout is on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin-Daniel Jacobs middleweight unification match on HBO PPV.
Lee [34-3-1, 24 KOs] will have a four-inch height advantage and is four years older than Leatherwood, a 5-foot-10 inch 28 year-old out of Birmingham, Alabama. The American has a 19-3-1 record with 12 KOs. Two of his three losses have come via KO.
Lee returns to the ring for the first time since losing the WBO 160-pound title, in his second defense, to Billy Joe Saunders in Manchester in December 2015. Lee was previously based in Detroit under the late legendary trainer Emanuel Steward.
