Conlan: Leaving John Breen was the hardest thing I have done

JAMIE Conlan had no real issue leaving Belfast for Marbella or signing with MGM, but revealed leaving long time trainer John Breen was the hardest thing he has ever done.

The Belfast super flyweight, who tops a Boxnation broadcast bill in the National Stadium in Dublin on July 4, spent his entire career with Breen and was never slow to heap praise on the Breen’s Gym boss.

Indeed, Conlan often said bringing Breen more prestige was on of his main motivations to succeed.

However, when his contract with Cyclone Promotions ran out and the chance to sign with MGM arose ‘The Mexican’ claims it was a career no brainier and to work with the Macklin’s Gym Marbella on a promotional level he had to up sticks and relocate to Spain.

That meant leaving Breen and the fighter, who now works with Danny Vaughan claims it was the toughest decision he had to make.

“Career wise it was the right decision, but I still feel it was the hardest decision I ever had to make because of what John Breen means to me as a person inside and outside the ring,” Conlan told Irish-boxing.com.

“He still means a lot to me, because we have been through a lot, some good times and bad times. He is a lovely man.

“There is no animosity, obviously John wanted us to do it together and you can’t blame him for feeling that way because he took me from the start, but there is no animosity he is still John Breen the man I always knew.”