Conlan an amateur legend who fell short of his pro dream
"How light I feel at the minute is probably relief. I've had so much pressure on my, so many expectations, even my own. "I've not achieved what I wanted to but I said when I came back into it [in 2025] it would be if I achieve it, then great but if I don't then so be it.
This is the so be it situation and now I can spend time with my family. "
"How light I feel at the minute is probably relief. I've had so much pressure on my, so many expectations, even my own. "I've not achieved what I wanted to but I said when I came back into it [in 2025] it would be if I achieve it, then great but if I don't then so be it.
This is the so be it situation and now I can spend time with my family. " Having followed his brothers into the boxing gym as a seven year old, Conlan would blossom into one of, if not the best Irish male amateurs. Collecting Antrim, Ulster and Irish titles as a junior, his first major international senior competition came at 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where, as a 17-year-old, he came unstuck against Australia's Jason Moloney.
It was just the beginning as the following year, he won the first of five Irish Elite titles which earned him a place on the team for the World Championships in Baku, reaching the quarter-finals which earned a place at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. There, he made the big breakthrough, reaching the semi-finals where he lost to Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez but returned with a bronze medal to great acclaim. 'End of the road' for Conlan after defeat by Walsh A European silver would follow in 2013 and Commonwealth gold in 2014, but 2015 proved to be a year of unprecedented glory.