Tempers flared between Michael Conlan (pictured) and TJ Doheny during a heated back-and-forth during their final press conference. Their fight takes place at Falls Park in Belfast on Friday as part of the Feile an Phobail festival, and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ in the USA, and on Fite TV for the rest of the world. The press conference took place on Tuesday, and things got tense between Conlan and Doheny as they sat down in front of the media.

 

Doheny said: “The fight was agreed upon before I even started by camp to be ten rounds at super-bantamweight [122 pounds]. He’s running down from 126 to 122 and can’t even make the weight. I’m coming here as the away fighter and everyone keeps mentioning that, but the best performances of my career seem to be when I am the away fighter. You see that with the shifts I’ve put in. I got the [IBF 122-pound] world title in Japan, and then fought Daniel Roman and a lot of people thought I won that fight [Roman won the unification bout]. I won’t be fazed by the crowd on Friday, and I’m excited to fight in front of the Belfast crowd. They’re the most passionate fans in the world, and I’d love to have a city like that behind me. I’m a bit of a road warrior and I keep upsetting the odds.”

 

Conlan said: “Stop bottling it. Are you going to walk away? No, so the fight is happening. I’ll box the ears off you on Friday night. I’m the better fighter and I’ll be victorious. No matter what he tries to bring, I’ll be the one getting my hand raised on Friday night.  can’t wait to be back in Belfast. I don’t think there was a better atmosphere in Ireland all year round than when we fought here in 2019, and it’s going to be special again this week.”

 

Promoter Jamie Conlan added: “The fans can expect potentially the best all-Irish fight in history. TJ Doheny should have been unified world champion in 2019, he pushed Daniel Roman to the limit and I thought he should have been the winner. He’s facing Mick who is the only Irish amateur male world champion. Probably the first time there has ever been an Irish amateur world champion against an Irish professional world champion. Mick has proven himself all over the world as an amateur and now the chance to prove himself as a professional. They will both see each other as the perfect opponent, and it makes all the ingredients for a fantastic fight. This is a great technical fight and a fight that they’ll both have great confidence in. We’re bringing big time boxing back to Belfast and live boxing back to Belfast. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel for sports fans all around Ireland.”