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Boxing

16th Mar 2017

Michael Conlan is certainly confident if this cheeky act is anything to go by

The Irish man shows no fear

Sean McMahon

He certainly looks unfazed anyway.

There is just over 24 hours until Michael Conlan’s debut professional fight against Tim Ibarra at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

There is plenty of excitement leading up to the fight with many Irish fans eagerly anticipating the beginning of what will hopefully be a long and successful professional career for the 25-year-old.

The weigh-in has taken place this Thursday and Conlan tipped the scales at 122.8 lbs as he looks to make his mark on the super-bantamweight division.

One thing which was obvious from the weigh-in was the absolute incredible shape which Conlan is in.

The Belfast man also looked completely in his element as he conducted his obligations among the fervour of cameras, fans and all the rest which accompany professional boxing weigh-ins.

What was very interesting was what happened after the two fighters completed their time on the scales.

Conlan and Ibarra faced off for an intense staredown which lasted about 30 seconds with no man flinching.

Eventually, they were broken up but Conlan, cheekily we might add, gives Ibarra an air-kiss and a little pat on the head for his troubles as he walks away.

It will be interesting to see whether that has any psychological effect on Ibarra but we won’t know until the next time the two see each other which will be in front of a packed MGS.

You can see the full weigh-in and full staredown from about 5 minutes onwards in the video below.

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