Mick Conlan has rekindled my love for boxing says Macklin

The fire burns again in Matthew Macklin, but he remains happy to manage rather than mangle fighters.

The retired former Irish, British and European champion claims Mick Conlan has helped him fall back in love with boxing again.

Macklin wasn’t just a fighter throughout his career, he was a boxing encyclopedia. The two-time World title challenger knew all there was to know about boxing and always spoke as passionately about the sport in general as he did his fights.

In the tail end of his journey as a fighter ‘Mack The Knife’ admits that his passion subsided and he lost some love for a sport he had been virtually obsessed with.

However, Conlan, and the idea of working alongside a fighter he believes will go down as Ireland’s greatest ever, has rekindled the love that the ‘Tipperary Tornado’ has for the game.

“The last few years I have been passionless and very lukewarm, I had lost my love, lost my excitement and I feel out of touch with it a little bit,” Macklin told Sky Sports.

“I didn’t know who the up and coming guys where at one time I was an anorak. I knew every up and coming fighter in the country, what style he was, who trained him, how many fights he had, you name it. I had lost that and lost touch.”

“I wasn’t really watching the fights, I wasn’t buying Boxing News, I wasn’t even watching my own fights back, but the last few months I have got excited again.”

“Michael Conlan is probably the main reason I feel rejuvenated in boxing and got the fire going again,”