MICHAEL CONLAN

The Belfast boxer got his copy of the book from his mother Teresa, a student mentor at Belfast Metropolitan College who is ‘into selfmeditation, self belief and positive thinking’. Although he has a team psychologist, Gerry Hussey, Mammy Conlan is also involved on ‘the psychological side’ – as most Mammies try to be, in fairness.

‘She would do a lot of meditation and be into the power of positive thinking,’ said Conlan. Mammy Conlan urged her boy to read The Secret and like most children, Michael resisted that maternal advice. ‘My mum was always on about it but I just thought, nah, not really for me,’ he said. ‘Then I saw Conor McGregor... There was a show about him when he first went into MMA and he was quoting stuff from The Secret. I was thinking, I need to read this because it seems to be really helping him.

‘Since I started reading it, it’s just given me a different mentality. It’s boosted my confidence. I was always confident, I always had belief in my ability, I had the simple things down to a T, without even knowing I was doing it. But since taking in the stuff from The Secret, it’s just enhanced everything. It gives me a sense of comfort in myself. It makes me believe that what I think, what I see in my head, what I say will come true.

‘I create these images in my head, bring them to myself and make them come to life. I’d give that book 10 out of 10, in my eyes. I’m not a big reader but that was one book I sat and read. It just excited me, everything about it excited me and I’ve put into practise stuff from it since 2014.’

He probably hasn’t read author and ‘mythbuster’ Barbara Ehrenreich’s Smile or Die – How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America. And while his professional career continues to go so well, perhaps he shouldn’t!