Jamie Conlan emerged the other side of an all-out war with his hand raised on Friday night.
“The Mexican” edged a split decision win over Nicaraguan Yader Cardoza in a brutal headliner of the ‘Belfast Boys Are Back’ card in Waterfront Hall.
Conlan dug deep to survive a knockdown and fight back fantastically to get the nod from two of the three judges. The final scorecards read 112:115. 114:113 and 115:113 in favour of the Irishman.
The win saw Conlan improve his record to 19(11)-0, and younger brother Michael was watching. Well, he was saw most of the bout.
Missed the last three round as my stream cut off, laptop almost got smashed 🙈 well done @JamieConlan11 but please stop doing that to me 😵😵
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) March 11, 2017
Michael is set to make his professional debut in Madison Squre Garden on St Patrick’s Day. He warned his brother not to show up battered and bruised. However, as Jamie explained to IFL TV, his trusty shades should hide the damage he endured in victory.
Even if it means risking looking like a “complete dickhead.”
“He said, ‘Don’t come to New York if you’re battered and bruised.’ The lads got me a nice pair of Prada sunglasses there in the summer. Good news, it’s fucking snowing in New York and I’m going to walk about in my sunglasses like a complete dickhead. Ahhh, ahhh, it’s done.”
Two boxers from the same family competing at such a high level is a promoter’s dream, but Jamie feels that fighting on the same card as his brother might not be the best idea. Considering his penchant for getting into wars, he feels that there would be a chance that Michael would enter the ring to defend him, if things got particularly violent.
“Now if you picture if I was on before him and he was in the changing room. Listen, every fight’s going to be to an extent a big drama show, as GGG says, or a wee drama show, because we’re from Belfast.”
“No, you wouldn’t want him to have to win after I (fought). I remember watching Paul Smith after Stephen lost to (Lee) Selby in the Olympia. I remember the camera zoomed in on him while he was in the changing room… You know, I know our Michael. He probably would have run out of the changing room and tried to jump into the ring. If stuff like that kind of happens, maybe we shouldn’t be on the same card.”
Check out the full interview in the video embedded below.
