It can be scary for me because I’m dealing with my brother’s career. I can’t afford to make a mistake
the house because I didn’t want people to congratulate me whereas Michael was always the peacock who wanted to show off his feathers.
“I would have a bruised-up face going into school at De La Salle College and people wouldn’t know why because they didn’t know that I was a boxer.
“I remember at De La Salle I was asked to get a photograph for recognition of winning an Irish title and I sent a friend down to get the picture taken and because I was so quiet they didn’t realise that it wasn’t me. I take more after my father and Michael takes more after my mother.
“He used to get into trouble but I didn’t. I remember a big tall guy, Paul, coming up to me, saying, ‘You need to get your brother to stop throwing stones me and calling me names’. The guy was five years older and he said, ‘I can’t catch him’ and I just said, ‘Well, if you can’t catch him then how am I going to catch him?’
“That was Michael, he seemed to love winding people up. He could be a wee so and so.
“I was done with boxing but John Breen and Eamonn Magee had a chat with me and persuaded me I could make it as a professional, so on the day Michael won his first Ulster senior title after I stepped down I decided to go pro. I was doing a B-Tech in engineering at the time and had a job at Shorts even though I always wanted to be a lawyer.”
Having been through memorable duels with Junior Granados, Anthony Nelson and Yader Cardoza when he climbed off the canvas to push through and have his hand raised in triumph, now he engages behind the scenes with the power brokers of world boxing.
“When I retired, I was honest with myself… I had one fight left on my contract and I was offered good money for one last fight but it was never about the money for me. I was finished,” he said.
“At the time Matthew Macklin was managing Michael but he got an offer from Sky to do commentary and so it was agreed that I would take over. Macklin said he would spend six months with me, showing me who and why he talked to certain people — getting an insight into the business. It was like an apprenticeship.
“Being in America I learned a lot, it made me realise how cut-throat boxing is in America.
“I was shocked at times at the way they talked about fighters. They would have a façade for the camera but behind the scenes it was different… I quickly understood that this really is a business.
“I had always said to Michael that when he turned pro it starts to lessen as a sport and become more of a business.
“Most managers are subservient to promoters. They’ll do what the promoter wants because it gets them the chance to sit ringside at an Anthony Joshua fight or some other big fight, they’re willing to sell their fighter short for the needs of the promoter whereas we as managers should be working for the fighter. The fighter is your boss.
“The promoter is also meant to work for the fighter and of course the promoter pays the bills and the wages. You have to work together but you can’t have too close a relationship with the promoter. You can have an outside work relationship with the promoter but in terms of a working relationship it needs to be down the line, black and white because if there is a more grey area of a relationship then there comes a conflict of interests.
“It can be scary for me because I’m dealing with my brother’s career and I have to be able to meet with him and the family for Sunday dinner, so if I haven’t done right by him how can I have dinner with his wife and two kids? That keeps me on the edge. I can’t afford to make a mistake…”
But, he accepts, that one blunder did happen on his watch when 12 months ago Michael came out on St Patrick’s Day in Madison Square Garden to the tune of Celtic Symphony which had the lyrics of ‘Ooh ahh up the RA’. The Michael Conlan brand was damaged, his brother consequently painted in a light that did not reflect his true character.
Conlan explained: “That mistake falls on me. The music was not to have been played. We were to be sent a version without those offensive chants but the email came through with the song and I didn’t check it, I just forwarded it on to the guy who plays the music. The text messages came through from our friends on both sides of the community about how disappointed they were and for the next week I had this gut-wrenching feeling in my stomach.
“Michael has a lot of friends from both sides of the community and they knew that wasn’t him. I decided that we say nothing and that was wrong, we should have nipped it in the bud.
“That was a learning curve. Neither myself or Michael would want to hurt anybody. We all regret it. Michael was proud to win gold for Northern Ireland just as he was proud to win gold for Ireland.
“It hurt him with the way the picture was painted of him, he didn’t want his kids to see him seen that way.
“We hope he has been forgiven because he wants to make everyone proud with his achievements. He has never seen one community being different than the other.”
He had expected Michael to take another step along the path to a world featherweight title shot with victory over Colombian Belmar Preciado before the cancellation, while also adding to his growing popularity, which moved to a new level after his most recent victory in December.
The former world amateur champion was on the same show as world title holders Terence Crawford and Teofimo Lopez but was the most watched fighter.
“The numbers don’t lie. Michael’s figures were incredible on ESPN and that makes my job a lot easier when I’m negotiating for him with his promoter Top Rank,” said Conlan. “It’s not an easy business, you have to be switched on all the time. It’s like playing the highest level of chess with millions of dollars on the table...”
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