Michael Conlan’s sophomore professional bout couldn’t have been more of a mismatch.
If you tuned into Conlan vs Alfredo Chanez expecting to see the Irish Olympic hero crush a tin can, you would have got your money’s worth from Saturday morning’s fight. However, if you wanted to see anything other than a one-sided beatdown between a highly-skilled pugilist and a human punching bag, you could have given it a miss.
His Mexican opponent was really in over his head, and fought accordingly. Straight from the get-go, he threw wild, reaching punches in sheer desperation. If one of them landed, he had a chance to fluke his way to victory, but Conlan was just too damn good for that carry on.
Conlan played the role of the matador superbly, letting the winging shots fly by him while he countered expertly. It didn’t take long for him to drop Chanez to the mat. The first knockdown came in the opening stanza.
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Upon realisation that Plan A was never going to work against a vastly superior pugilist, Chanez got so grimey that not even Barry Scott could clean him up.
He cried foul, tried to get the Belfast boxer disqualified and did everything in his power to ruin Conlan’s momentum and delay the inevitable.
Fortunately, Conlan remained composed and didn’t let those dirty tactics get to him.
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The fight-ending blow finally came towards the tail-end of the third round. Smelling the finish was near, Conlan unloaded barrage after barrage of combinations as Chanez stumbled around the ring like a drunkard trying to find his phone.
Chanez grabbed the Irishman’s waist, which left his body wide open for the coup de grace, a crunching body shot to the ribs that sent him crashing down to the canvas in a heap. He struggled back to his feet, but the referee mercifully decided that he had enough damage for one day and awarded Conlan the knockout win.
The result saw Conlan improve his pristine pro record to 2-0, while Chanez is now 4-5.
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Next up for Conlan, a bout on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn in Brisbane’s Suncorp stadium on July 2.
