‘Irish Slayer’ Ionut Baluta confident he has the weapons to take Michael Conlan’s scalp

Ionut Baluta [14(3)-2(0)] warns he is ready to hijack Michael Conlan’s world title plans by making it a hat trick of Irish wins on Friday night.

The Romanian has proved himself Irish kryptonite over the last 12 months outpointing former world champion TJ Doheny in Dubia in March 2020 before stopping Rio Olympian David Oliver Joyce at the York Hall as recent as September last.

‘Il Capo’ is confident the Belfast super-bantamweight will suffer the same fate as his fellow countrymen live on BT Sports and is promising to derail Conlan’s 2021 world title hopes.

“I got this fight and opportunity after the victories with T.J [Doheny] and David [Oliver Joyce] and I will win this one to get another big chance,” Baluta told Irish-boxing.com.

“I can hijack his world title plans. Win this one and the matches after will be stepping stones to the world title.”

“I am the athlete who proved that he can beat any fighter in my category. Conlan is an experienced fighter, a good boxer, but I know I can defeat him,” he adds before definitively predicting victory.

“As per usual I will put on a beautiful display and add another name to my record.”

Despite his recent run of form, the Spanish based fighter who was defeated by the relatively unknown Jefferson Vargas and
European bantamweight title challenger Sebastian Perez feels he is still overlooked.

It doesn’t surprise him but he does warn he still carries upset potential into this month’s clash.

“I think I’m still underestimated, but I’m not surprised by that and I know I have the weapons needed to defeat anyone at the weight including Conlan.”