Rollercoaster ride for Conlan

22 December 2009 – By Cormac Campbell

Jamie Conlan has experienced the highs and lows of professional boxing in the short period he has been in the paid ranks.

Despite having only made his debut in November, Conlan has already experienced the ecstasy of fighting on a major promotion and the agony of serious injury.

Making his debut on the undercard of Rogan vs Sexton II, Conlan looked promising in outboxing the admittedly average Anwar Alfadi. A second outing was scheduled for the undercard of Macklin vs Sosa Pintos in Dublin in December, but a shoulder injury put paid to that.

“I hurt my shoulder sparring Andy Murray,” he said. “I threw a body shot and everything went numb I was in serious pain. I was gutted. But its cleared up perfectly now. I did everything that the physio and John Breen told me to do. It wasnt anything Andy did, I just crashed into his elbow and it was hurting in the spar. It seemed to be ligament damage or something like that but it has cleared up nicely.”

Conlan added that he is keen to get back into action early in the New Year.

“ASAP. I dont care. We are free to take whatever comes and happy to work with any promoter. If you are staying with someone you can only fight when they want you to fight and John Breen can get me fights. Im looking forward to next year because John believes that can be a big year for me.”

Given Conlans weight division of flyweight it is highly likely that opportunity will come sooner rather than later as the pool of talent on the British and Irish scene is that shallow.

“I dont like to think too far ahead, but I realise that there arent an awful lot of boxers in the division so if I keep winning a shot could come early,” he said.

“And if there was a title shot thats what Id look forward to everybody wants to be successful.”

With so few other boxers of his own weight available to spar, Conlan regularly works with Andy Murray a fully fledged lightweight. However, whilst this is beneficial for his strength work his speed work is very much a family affair.

“My younger brother Michael is the reigning Ulster Senior Flyweight Champion so he comes in and works with me on speed. The spars we have are wars real tear ups. You feel bad as one round you beat him up then the next he comes right back at you.”

The two brothers were due to meet in last years Provincial decider but opted against it. Jamie turned pro and Michael picked up the title on walkover. According to Jamie, it will be some time before his younger brother joins him in the professional arena.

“He wants to go to the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics and then Id say he would think about it.”