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Las Vegas opponent switch for Mick Conlan


Mick Conlan [8(5)-0] will have to deal with a change of opponent for his Las Vegas debut later this month.

The Belfast featherweight fights in Sin City for the first time on Saturday October 20th, boxing under the lights at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the strip.

The eight rounder features on the Top Rank/ESPN+ undercard of Ryota Murata’s middleweight clash with Rob Brant and Conlan was due to face New Mexico fighter Jose Osorio [10(4)-3(1)].

However, it has since been confirmed that the Falls Road starlet will now face Italian puncher Nicola Cipoletta [14(4)-6(2)-2].

Turning pro in 2009 as a super featherweight, the Naples native won eight on the spin before a 2-3-2 run which included two failed attempts at the Italian title.

Moving down in weight, Cipoletta became Italian featherweight champion when he stopped Antonio Cossu in 2015 before defending the belt twice successfully in 2016.

Moving back up in weight last year he was outpointed by Marco McCullough defeator Zoltan Kovacs before losing his national title via knockout. The 30-year-old comes into his clash with Conlan following a comeback win over Hungarian journeyman Jozsef Ajtai in August.

26-year-old Conlan last fought in June, marking his Belfast homecoming with a comfortable step up win over recent World title challenger Adeilson Dos Santos

A decisive win over Cipoletta should allow Conlan to squeeze in a planned fifth fight of the year on December 8th at Madison Square Garden in New York on the Vasyl Lomachenko v Jose Pedraza unification undercard.
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The card in two weeks time also features a light welterweight fight between Antonio DeMarco and Maxim Dadashev, and appearances from Esquiva Falcao, Fazliddin Gaibnazarov, Adam Lopez, Joseph Adorno, David Kaminsky, as well as Conlan’s Olympic rival Vladimir Nikitin who takes a very early step up to eight rounds.

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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