Mick Conlan defends Takoucht test
For perhaps the first time ever, Mick Conlan‘s fight this weekend is going somewhat under the radar.
A 1/50 favourite versus an opponent fans last saw being obliterated in two rounds by Josh Warrington, some are looking ahead to a ‘big’ fight for the Irish world title hopeful.
Conlan [13(7)-0] though knows that this Saturday night versus Sofiane Takoucht [35(13)-4(1)-1] is a big fight.
The World Amateur champion believes the French featherweight veteran is being underestimated by onlookers and while he understands why this is the case, Conlan is fully focused on Takoucht.
In a piece with sponsors 32Red, Conlan explained how “I think this is a good test.”
“People are going to look at what happened when he fought Josh Warrington but it doesn’t matter what Josh did to him. He went in there with a good, fast, aggressive world champion who hits hard.”
“His only other losses are split and a majority decisions. It’s a good fight,” added Conlan ahead of the clash on Saturday at BT Sport studios in London.
Beyond his loss to the ferocious Warrington last year, Takoucht’s three defeats have been tight.
In 2009 he lost a narrow unanimous decision in a challenge of the then-French champ Guillaume Frenois. His next loss saw him drop his European belt to Alexander Miskirtchian on a split decision in 2011 and he was defeated by the same opponent in Belgium in 2014, that time on a majority decision.
The 34-year-old Ardennes fighter may be a familiar name to Irish boxing fans having been a target of both Pajo Hyland and Martin Lindsay way back in 2010 during his first reign as European champion.
Conlan, who is now moving down to super bantamweight to chase new WBO champ Angelo Leo, is not listening to any criticism of the opponent.
Nor is he paying heed to any critics of the style he has cultivated under coach Adam Booth.
The Belfast switch-hitter notes how “I don’t really care what people think.”
“People can love what I do or hate it. It really doesn’t matter to me. I care about the performance I put in and making sure that its the type of performance I wanted it to be.”
“I only care about making sure that me and my family are taken care of after boxing.”
