Amateur career
Domestic
Conlan won his first Ulster novice title at the age of 11, and is a three-time Irish national flyweight champion. [4]
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. [11] [12]
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 (Conlan) 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 (both of which John Joe Nevin won in 2013).
2016 Olympics
In the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Conlon endured "daylight robbery" by losing his quarter-final on a "truly awful verdict to a blood-spattered Russian" Vladimir Nikitin. [17] [18] Conlon 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 Conlon. [19]
2014 Commonwealth Games
Conlan won Gold in the Commonwealth Games at bantamweight. Results were:
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. [20] Despite interest from several big promotions and rumours of a deal being struck with Mayweather Promotions, [21] it was Top Rank who secured Conlan's signature. [22] 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. [23]
On 17 March 2017, Conlan won his first fight as a professional boxer, beating Tim Ibarra by a third round technical knockout (TKO) at the theatre at Madison Square Garden. [24] [25]
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. [26]
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. [27] Conlan won comfortably on all three scorecards, 100–90, 99-91 and 98–92. [28]
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. [29]
Conlan won his first bout at the super-bantam weight level on 30 April 2021, beating Ionut Baluta by a majority decision. [30]
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. [31] 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. [32]
Conlan remained in the featherweight level for his fight against Leigh Wood, the current WBA (Regular) 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, [33] 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". [34] [35] He was quickly taken to hospital, Conlan since has said he is "all good" and his scans were "clear". [36]
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. [37]
