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Jamie Conlan reveals world title roadmap following Belfast withdrawal

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They say every cloud has silver-lining and that certainly seems to be the case for Jamie Conlan [19(11)-0] fans this weekend.

There was disappointment among Irish fight fans and indeed BoxNation subscribers after news broke that the war specialist would not be fighting alongside Paddy Barnes and co at the Waterfront tonight at the Waterfront Hall.

However, it seems Conlan’s absence from what promises to be an entertaining card is good rather than bad news.

‘The Mexican’ reveals that MTK and Frank Warren preferred he took a break as they have something ‘big’ lined up for him later in the year.

Conlan explained to Irish-Boxing.com how “it’s the right move as far as the whole team is concerned. We’ll take a break, a step back, relax and rest up a wee bit from the Cardoza fight, and go again after the Summer.”

“There’d be no point in me fighting now and then waiting until December, I may as well rest up, let the cuts heal. I’m ticking over, I want to be perfect going into this last hurdle, this last hurrah.”

“There’s moves being made, my team and the promotional team are working on a number of things at the minute. It’s a benefit of having Matthew [Macklin, manager] doing stuff on the other side of the world, he’s able to pull strings over there.”

“Then I have Frank Warren pushing my corner on this side. They’re working on my behalf and they’re trying to push into a big fight.”

The Belfast 30 year old had hoped to fight Top Rank’s Hong Kong star Rex Tso [21(13)-0] for the WBO title which most assume the fearsome champion Naoya Inoue will soon vacate. Tso however signed to fight in a final eliminator with Japanese veteran and former WBA 115lbs champ Kohei Kono on October 7th.

Conlan believes that this match-up will turn out to be for the vacant title, and wants to position himself for a shot at the winner, preferably Tso.

The Falls Road man outlined how “Rex Tso basically is the guy we’re chasing.”

“He’s fighting [Kohei] Kono, who’s no pushover, at the start of October. We were hoping for the end of the year, we’ll see what happens, but there’s curveballs already being thrown in the works. There’s been talks with other people, it’s all chess moves.”

“I would like to be out September time, just to keep fresh again. So three fights this year, with the third fight being a world title fight – and if not, we can keep going, I’ve learnt to be patient, I trust in my team, they feel like it’s going to happen.”

“Inoue has got the [WBO] belt, but he wants to move up, the [Shinsuke] Yamanaka [WBC bantamweight champion] fight is there for him. He’s contracted to fight in America in September and they want him to defend the title, he doesn’t want to and is saying that it will be his last defence. Tso’s people believe Inoue is going to move up after September and their fight [v Kono] is going to be elevated [to a world title fight].”

“Why fight Tso in an eliminator when, if we are all patient here, it can be for the world title. These rankings will all move around. He’s highly thought of by the WBO, and Frank Warren is great with the WBO, he’s working tirelessly.”

Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

frayne carpentry

irishboxing

Integral part of the Irish boxing community for over 13 years

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