Cream of the Croc – Conlan urges Lewis Crocker to grab Belfast star chance
Jamie Conlan believes Lewis Crocker cemented his status as a ‘bona fide’ Belfast star with victory over Tyrone McKenna and has urged him to cement his status as a main man in one of Europe’s main boxing cities weekend.
‘The Croc’ has long since been heralded as one to watch and a potential Belfast headliner – but struggled for momentum at different stages of a stop-start career.
The Billy Nelson-trained fighter found that injection he was looking for by winning a huge Battle of Belfast with McKenna late last year, exposing his talent to a wider audience while proving his bill-topping capabilities in the process.
He gets instant reward in the form of the headline slot on the first Irish card of the year and according to Conlan Boxing CEO, Conlan, he can continue the transformation from possible star to one of the boxing mad cities leading lights at the Ulster Hall on January 27
“He’s had the building fights, learning fights and he finished the year by beating Tyrone to establish himself as a bona fide star in the city,” said Conlan when speaking to the Irish News.
“He really has an opportunity to progress and grab the bull by the horns and keep this thing moving.”
That opportunity comes as soon as this month as the Belfast welterweight takes on the dangerous Jose Felix on a DAZN broadcast bill.
“He has Matchroom and Conlan Boxing behind him and when we signed Lewis we identified him and Pody McCrory as carrying the flag for Belfast boxing forward in the years to come. This is his opportunity to really grab it,” Conlan continued.
That fight tops a Matchroom Boxing and Conlan Boxing co-promotion and former world title challenger, Conlan believes the link-up will have a long-lasting positive effect on Irish boxing.
“We have the quality here and we also have the quantity and we just need the stage for them to showcase their talents. For a long time the shows were few and far between so the fighters didn’t get opportunities to grow, to learn, to build their profile with the public. I believe the times have changed and we’re getting opportunities to showcase our fighters on an international stage against world class fighters.”
