Michael John Conlan (born 19 November 1991) is an Irish^[1] professional boxer. He challenged for the IBF featherweight title in 2023 and the WBA (Regular) featherweight title in 2022. As an amateur, he reached number one in the AIBA bantamweight world rankings,^[2] with achievements that include a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and gold at the 2015 World Championships. He has been one of Ireland's most successful amateur fighters of all time.^[3] He turned professional in 2016 after misgivings with the amateur sport, and had his first bout in 2017.

Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Michael Conlan
Conlan at Web Summit in Dublin, 2015
Born	(1991-11-19) 19 November 1991 (age 32) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish
Other names	Mick
Statistics
Weight(s)	Super bantamweight Featherweight Super featherweight
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Reach	69 in (175 cm)
Stance	Switch
Boxing record
Total fights	21
Wins	18
Wins by KO	9
Losses	3
Medal record Representing  Ireland Olympic Games 2012 London Flyweight World Amateur Championships 2015 Doha Bantamweight European Amateur Championships 2015 Samokov Bantamweight 2013 Minsk Flyweight Representing  Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow Bantamweight

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Conlan was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His father and coach, John, hails from Drimnagh, Dublin.^[4] His elder brother, Jamie, was also a professional boxer.

Conlan won his first Ulster novice title at the age of 11, and is a three-time Irish national flyweight champion.^[5] In his debut match at the 2012 Olympics, he defeated Ghanaian boxer Duke Micah, having received a bye in the first round.^[6] In the quarter final, he defeated French boxer Nordine Oubaali by 22–18, guaranteeing himself a bronze medal.^[7][8] Conlan lost his semi-final bout against Cuba's eventual gold medallist Robeisy Ramírez.^[9][10]

After the Olympics, Conlan would go on to win a silver medal at the 2013 European Championships in Minsk, losing to Welsh boxer Andrew Selby by 1:2.^[11]

Conlan moved up from flyweight to bantamweight and on 2 August 2014 he won the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, beating England's Qais Ashfaq. Conlan won despite only returning to training two weeks prior following an injury.^[12][13]

2015 started off with Conlan competing in the World Series of Boxing for Italia Thunder. Conlan and his teammate, fellow Irish boxer Paddy Barnes, would compete in seven fights over 14 weeks in an effort to try and secure qualification for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Conlan racked up five wins out of seven, which was just enough for him to finish second in the individual ranking and secure an Olympic berth in Rio.

In August 2015 Conlan won the European Championships at bantamweight and scooped Boxer of the Tournament. He competed in four fights beating; French, Danish, Italian and Great Britain representatives. He only lost 3 rounds out of a possible 36 on individual judges' scorecards. His final was a repeat of the 2014 Commonwealth Games final against Great Britain's Qais Ashfaq. Conlan took the first in what was a very technical encounter, the Belfast man took the second on a split, by the third round the No.1 seed (Conlan) was in cruise control which saw him take the round and the fight unanimously to retain Ireland's hold on the European bantamweight title and the best boxer award (both of which John Joe Nevin won in 2013).

In October 2015, Conlan won the gold medal in the bantamweight division at the 2015 World Championships.^[14] It was Ireland's first ever male World Championship gold medal.^[15][16] In December 2015, Conlan was named as the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year for 2015.^[17]

Following the 2016 Olympics and his disillusionment with amateur boxing, Conlan reaffirmed his intentions of turning professional.^[19] Despite interest from several big promotions and rumours of a deal being struck with Mayweather Promotions,^[20] it was Top Rank who secured Conlan's signature.^[21] On 23 September, Bob Arum confirmed that Conlan would be making his professional debut at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, on St. Patrick's Day.^[22]

On 17 March 2017, Conlan won his first fight as a professional boxer, beating Tim Ibarra by a third round technical knockout (TKO) at the theatre at Madison Square Garden.^[23][24]

On 3 August 2019, he fought Diego Alberto Ruiz. In front of a packed crowd in his hometown Belfast, Conlan continued his unbeaten streak in the pros and stopped his opponent in nine rounds.^[25]

On 14 December, Conlan faced Vladimir Nikitin. It was a much anticipated bout, since Nikitin beat Conlan twice in the amateurs, including once at the Rio Olympics in 2016.^[26] Conlan won comfortably on all three scorecards, 100–90, 99-91 and 98–92.^[27]

In his next fight, Conlan squared off against Sofiane Takoucht. Conlan started the fight fast, and was dominant throughout most of the fight, assaulting Takoucht with numerous body shots. Some of Conlan's body shots were landing below the belt, for which he was deducted a point on two occasions. In the tenth round, Conlan was just too much for the Frenchman, and the referee stopped the fight, awarding Conlan the tenth-round TKO win.^[28]

Conlan won his first bout at the super-bantam weight level on 30 April 2021, beating Ionut Baluta by a majority decision.^[29]

Conlan returned to featherweight in his next bout, as he faced T. J. Doheny for the vacant WBA interim featherweight title on 6 August 2021.^[30] Conlan won the fight by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the fight 116–111 in his favor, while the third judge scored it 119–108 for him. He scored the sole knockdown of the bout in the fifth round, dropping Doheny with a strike to the body.^[31]

Conlan remained in the featherweight level for his fight against Leigh Wood, the current WBA (Regular) featherweight title holder, on 12 March 2022. He started the fight brightly, scoring a knockdown on Wood in the first round and he continued to dominate until the later rounds when Wood came back into the contest more. Conlan went down in the 11th round, it was scored as a knockdown despite protests from Conlan's corner. In the 12th, with Conlan just being ahead on all the scorecards,^[32] Wood improved again and 1:25 into the round he knocked out Conlan, with Conlan falling through the ropes and reportedly being rendered unconscious for "a minute or two".^[33][34] He was quickly taken to hospital, Conlan since has said he is "all good" and his scans were "clear".^[35]

On August 6, 2022, Conlan made his ring return at SSE Arena Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He faced three-time world title challenger Miguel Marriaga of Colombia. He won the fight by unanimous decision, scoring three knockdowns in Round 7, 8 and 9.^[36]

In 2013, Conlan appeared in Celebrity Apprentice Ireland on TV3.^[49] In 2016, Conlan appeared in Road To Rio on RTÉ2.

• European Amateur Championships:
  • Boxer of the Tournament: 2015
• RTÉ Sports Awards:
  • RTÉ Sports Person of the Year: 2015