Booth the right man to guide me for rest of my career: Conlan
MICHAEL Conlan believes he will finish his professional boxing career with trainer Adam Booth in the corner after linking up with the Londoner last month.
Highly-rated Booth (below), who has guided Ryan Burnett to unifying the bantamweight division last year, has a reputation of being selective as to which boxers he will work with, so the link-up speaks volumes as to the esteem Conlan is held in.
The Belfast featherweight, who relocated from Manny Robles’ gym in Carson, California at the start of this year, is equally glowing of his new trainer and is excited to begin their partnership in the ring on St Patrick’s Day at Madison Square Garden.
“This is just the next chapter of my professional boxing career,” said Conlan after going through his annual scan at the Kingsbridge Hospital in Belfast.
“I believe I am in the right place with the right coach to bring me onto the next level to where I need to be, and that’s world titles.
“I believe this is the coach now who I will finish my career with. I’m a loyal guy, not one who chops and changes much. I was in the same amateur gym for most of my life.
“Leaving Manny, I went over there expecting to be there for the rest of my career, but things do change and I thought I needed to be closer to home with another baby on the way.”
Conlan’s first year as a professional saw him build a record of five wins from as many contests, four inside the distance, so it was a successful time on the west coast of the United States.
However, he is glad to be closer to home once again, both in distance and boxing terms with his style set to bear a closer resemblance to the one that saw him win bantamweight gold at the World Amateur Championships in 2015.
“That year in the US brought a different style to my game,” he continued. “It was a style of me going to war, which I need to break in training because I am going into spars trying to take guys out. I was going in with that ‘kill or be killed’ attitude rather than a learning attitude.
“There was nothing technical behind it so I need to break out and I think Adam is the coach who will help me achieve that.”
The Belfast man is now just two weeks away from returning to the United States on business with his sixth pro outing to come, exactly one year since his debut against Tim Ibarra back in The Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
That was a special occasion for Conlan, who enjoyed a pro debut the vast majority of boxers can only dream of, and this time he will use March 17 as another launchpad as he looks t to step things up as the race for belts hots up, with a likely homecoming in late May/early June.
“I haven’t boxed one guy with a losing record,” he pointed out. “Two have had level records and the others have had winning records, so I feel that speaks volumes in itself for pro boxing
“People may say I am moving slowly, but I feel I am in a good place. This is a step up, something that I’m looking forward to and something ESPN have asked for. They want me to step it up and I’m happy to do that.”
THE big freeze was beginning to make itself known as Joe Schmidt put his players through their paces as snow fell on the Aviva Stadium, but afterwards there was a notable thawing in the head coach’s approach to his press conference beneath the West Stand.
The New Zealander is riding the crest of a wave and took questions for more than half an hour as he made a case for his defence coach, considered the balance in developing young players and holding their performances to account, explained his injury situation at length, praised Jamie Heaslip’s contribution and ultimately considered the issue that is dominating the discussion outside the four walls of his camp — the Grand Slam.
The Ireland coach does not normally entertain such things. His focus is on the next job, on improving the players and keeping their eyes on the ball.
It has served him superbly in the eight trophy-laden years he has been in Ireland, but the down week between the pivotal games against Wales and Scotland has afforded him a little room to breathe and time to take a look at the bigger picture.
He’ll like what he sees — 14 points out of a potential 15 and a healthy points differential is “perfect” according to Schmidt, who will have worked out all of the equations ahead of a seven-day period that could define his tenure.
Five points clear with 10 to play for, they know that a bonus-point win over Scotland would put England — who play France away after Ireland’s game — in a corner and if Eddie Jones’ men can’t match Ireland’s result then the title will go Schmidt’s way for the third time in five seasons.
He feels that would be an achievement in itself, and he would be correct, but the clean sweep has evaded him so far and would put this team — injury-hit as it is — into another realm.
A student of rugby, the Kiwi coach knows just what it would mean to win the final two games and secure just the third Slam in Irish history.
He won’t think about it too much as he focuses on making improvements to the side, but he knows exactly what’s at stake.
“I’d love to win a Championship,” he said. “But the Grand Slam is super special, especially here.
“In 2009 I witnessed that from a distance. I was living in Clermont but I saw how people reacted, what it meant to people.
“When you’ve only had two of them, people talk about it because what’s rare is beautiful, you want it to happen massively.
“For us, it would be fantastic if that was something we managed to do, but for us it would be really special if we managed to get three Championships in five years.
“That would be an incredible representation of the consistency at the very top level — at the very top level of Europe, you throw in a few of the southern hemisphere results and it’s been an exciting time for some of these players to really test themselves.
“But these next two games, I think they just get bigger and bigger.
“Scotland on that upward spiral — we’re at home, in Dublin, we know the reality that if we can get the result there then other people have to do something special to stop us from getting the Championship.