New Year’s Resolutions: Mick Conlan looks ahead to 2017

Mick Conlan plans to take a flexible approach to his first year as a pro, and is intending to play it by ear.

The professional progression of Olympians has varied wildly in recent years, with the likes of Deontay Wilder challenging for world honours in his 33rd fight, while Vasyl Lomachenko fought for a title in his 2nd bout.

Conlan possesses plenty of five-round World Series of Boxing experience, much like Lomachenko and other fast-tracked stars such as Oleksandr Usyk and Sergiy Derevyanchenko. However, the Belfast man does not want to make any bold claims, and his path to titles will be decided by his performances and adjustments in his opening few fights.

The 2015 Word Amateur Champion explained to Irish-Boxing.com how “we will see how the first few fights roll and then decide how fast we wanna move. I think I’ll fight five or six times in 2017 – as my year starts from March. I’ll have six to eight fights scheduled up to March 2018.”

This fight in March promises to be a big one. The bout itself is a six rounder and will be against above average debut opposition, however the platform in near-unprecedented. Conlan will headline a Top Rank card at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on St Patrick’s Day – a huge vote of confidence and statement of intent from the US promoters.

The 25 year old’s debut has seen phenomenal interest already. Tickets are not released until later this month, but Conlan has revealed that over 900 supporters have already made arrangements to travel to the Big Apple.

Conlan admits that the volume of support has taken even him by surprise, and described how “I’m completely honoured and grateful that so much people are coming to support me. It’s a great start with a great following from the get-go!

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey look ahead to 2017 in episode 1 of The Irish Boxing Show