Michael Conlan Targets Belfast Boxing Revival as Promoter
Michael Conlan is determined to bring big-time boxing to Belfast – but this time plans to do it as a promoter not a boxer.
The Irish fight great believes the Irish fight capital has been “starved” of big nights in recent years and hopes his new promotional partnership with JB Promotions can help change that.
The recently retired Belfast star officially launched Conlan Boxing Promotions this week, teaming up with Jay Byrne as he embarks on the next chapter of his boxing career.
Rather than stepping away from the sport entirely, the former world title challenger says he wants to build opportunities for the next generation of Irish talent.
“Me and Jay have been talking about this for a long time,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.
“It’s not just an off the cuff thing. This is something that’s been in the works for a good while.
“I feel now was the right time with my schedule now, not being in a in a gym 24/7, not being very selfish, thinking about myself in terms of my own career.
“Now I want to venture into the promotional side of things. I’m in the management side of things already, but in the promotional side of things, I do believe there is a massive gap in the north. Northern Ireland has been starved since the days of when I was involved with my brother and we were doing shows. I was doing shows myself fighting. So, I think it needs big-time boxing back.”
The Olympic medal winner says partnering with Byrne was an easy decision after watching the Dublin promoter steadily grow JB Promotions over the last number of years.
He also outlined ambitious long-term plans to build shows from smaller Belfast venues towards major arena events.
“My plan is to bring shows back to Belfast, get these young up and coming fighters out as much as possible and build their name, build a record and get them in the position to fight for big titles. My goal from a management point of view was always to get my fighters to reach their potential. Whether the potential is an Irish title, whether the potential is a world title, it doesn’t matter. If you reach potential, I’ll feel I’ve succeeded in doing my job.”
