Jamie Conlan was involved in more than his fair share of thrilling fights during his time as a professional, but if the head of Conlan Boxing thought that a seat on the safe side of the ropes would take the edge away from the sport he loves, he was mistaken.
Conlan manages Lewis Crocker, 20-0 (11 KOs), and on Saturday night he was ringside in Birmingham for the unbeaten welterweight’s war with Conah Walker. Both men had their moments but after 10 thrilling rounds, the judges preferred Crocker’s clean, accurate punching over Walker’s relentless workrate and pressure and awarded him a close but unanimous decision.
Conlan was still on a high on Monday afternoon.
“I text him [Crocker] earlier and said, ‘Let’s meet for a coffee on Wednesday.’ He said, ‘Why not today?’ I said I didn’t think I’d slept since, ‘I’m shattered, let alone you,’” Conlan told BoxingScene.
“It was a tough fight and Walker’s a real tough man. I was really impressed by him.”
Once Crocker’s aches and pains have healed the two will get on with plotting his next step. The exciting 27-year-old has been spoken about as a potential star for years but has built some real momentum over the past six months.
Last December, he broke through by outpointing his Belfast rival, Tyrone McKenna, and followed it up the following month by stopping Jose Felix. Beating Walker in such exciting fashion will take his profile to a new level and open up plenty of potential avenues. Conlan’s preferred route to the top would go through the stylish and unbeaten Paddy Donovan, 14-0 (11 KOs), next. The fight between Belfast’s Crocker and Limerick’s Donovan would be a genuine clash of styles and a massive fight for Ireland.
“We’d do it. We’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m more than happy to do it next. Matchroom are interested in a rematch [with Walker], we like Donovan and there are a couple of options that were proposed before the fight,” he said. “We’ll see how the land lies in terms of bigger opportunities and see what can be looked at but the Donovan fight is what we were looking at before the fight and we were looking in Belfast in October or November time.
“It’s something that we’ll sit down and discuss over the next few days.”
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