Super bantamweight Michael Conlan 15-0 (8) believes he should be the underdog going into his fight against former world champion TJ Doheny 22-2 (16) at Falls Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Friday night.
Australian-based Irishman Doheny travelled to Japan to lift the IBF belt from Ryosuke Iwasa three years ago. He defended the title once against another Japanese boxer Ryohei Takahashi in New York before losing his belt to WBA champion Danny Roman by majority decision in Los Angeles in April 2019.
In his last fight in March last year southpaw Doheny, 34, was upset by little-known Romanian Ionut Baluta, dropping an eight-round decision. Conlan defeated Baluta by 12-round majority decision last April.
“I’m a big favourite on paper for this fight and I don’t agree with that – I think it’s a much closer fight than what the bookies’ are saying,” Belfast’s Conlan told The Irish News.
“I’m putting myself in as the underdog – I’m the more inexperienced guy, I’m going in against the former world champion and the only thing I can say I have more experience in is the atmosphere.
“I have experienced the atmosphere, I have experienced big shows but the thing is that he’s gone into the lion’s den before and he came out victorious and he came out world champion in Japan.
“So I have to be wary of that. He knows how to deal with it, he’s not going to eaten up by it and he’s going to come to fight.
“But I’m not going to worry about that, I’ll concentrate on myself and how I perform. I’ve had great preparation, great sparring and I’m ready to go. There’s no more talking to be done, it’s all about going in and doing the business now.”
The 29-year-old Conlan said his training camp has been as good as any he has had.
“I’m looking forward to getting in there and getting the job done,” he said. “I’m firing on all cylinders, sparring has been great, the whole camp has been great. It has been long so I’m looking forward to getting in.”
Conlan said he doesn’t know Doheny personally but has followed his career since the amateurs.
“I don’t know him on a personal level but I know him to say hello to. I congratulated him when he won his world title and I was really happy for him – I was cheering for him,” he said.
“He’s an aggressive, counter-puncher. He is a tough, rugged fighter and he’s someone who I’ve looked up to in the past. I’m looking forward to facing him and I believe I’m much better than him and I’ll have to show that on Friday night because he has plenty of gas left in his tank.
“It’s not like he’s been taking punches for the last two years! He has been getting good sparring with Billy Dib and he has been over in America for his camp. He lost to Baluta but I don’t take anything from that.
“I believe it’s going to be a great fight and I know what is on the line for him. This is probably the last chance saloon for him and he’ll put everything into it, he’ll give it his all and he is going to be ready to die in there so you have to be willing to go the whole way with him.
“If I’m honest, I’m not going to give him the opportunity to do that (go the whole way). I’m going to put an absolute masterclass on and box his ears off.”
