Conlan club-mate Conor Quinn aiming to join Mick as a World Champ
Clonard ABC’s Conor Quinn was the only Belfast winner at Saturday’s National Under 18 finals.
The Ulster flyweight was victorious in an entertaining scrap with Waterford youngster Jordan Halpin, who had only recently stepped up to this level and gave a very good account of himself. An opening round war gave way to a more measured second and third where Quinn used his counter-punching skills to good effect to take the bout (30-27×2, 29-28).
The win was an important one for Quinn, who is in his final year at underage level, as he had been off the radar for a period. He explained to Irish-Boxing.com afterwards that “this is my fifth Irish title but its my first in a while, I was out injured for a while, so it was good to get back in and to get the rust off.”
A typically confident Belfast lad, Quinn outlined his ambitions for international glory in Russia this November and said “hopefully I get picked for the World Championships and I go over there and bring home the gold medal, absolutely.”
Quinn admits that his positive thinking is somewhat similar to his Clonard ABC clubmate and AIBA World champion bantamweight Mick Conlan – and he described the impact of the Irish boxing superstar’s presence in the club as being “unbelievable.”
“You train alongside him and you think it’s good, but then you see how he picks everything up from the training ground and brings it into the ring, it’s phenomenal, it’s unbelievable.”
