Former Olympian Michael Conlan 21-3 (9) insists he still has some fight left in him as he reveals plans to continue his career.
The 32-year-old Irishman suffered back-to-back knockout losses last year to Luis Alberto Lopez 30-2 (17) and Jordan Gill 28-3-1 (9).
IBF featherweight champion Lopez, 30, of Mexico dropped Conlan a right uppercut before his corner threw in the towel in the fifth round last May.
Following the loss, Conlan moved up to super featherweight to face Britain’s Gill, 29, in December. Gill had Conlan on the canvas in the second round before stopping him in the seventh.
But after some months away from the spotlight, Conlan says he is ready to resume his career.
“It’s not done. It’s not done. How can I end things how they ended? When I look back on my last performance, it wasn’t even me in the ring,” Conlan said to Irish-Boxing.
“It was a terrible performance. I probably shouldn’t have been in the ring, there was a lot of shit going on in my life, in my family life and it probably wasn’t the right time for that fight.
“That’s just the way things go. You roll the dice and you make mistakes sometimes. These things happen.
“I paid the price, I lost, unfortunately, but we go forward and I don’t think that was a fair assessment of me in there that night, so I look forward to shutting up the naysayers and the doubters and that will happen eventually.”
Despite his keenness to get back in the ring, Conlan says he doesn’t expect to box again until the backend of the year.
“It’s nothing official yet but If I am looking, I’m looking at November-December time,” Conlan said.
“The time away from the game has been very beneficial to me, not being in the ring, not being in the gym, training but not boxing training, not focusing on boxing in terms of myself, more on the promotion and the managing [of Conlan Boxing].
“With the time away, I’m starting to get that bit of an itch and to be honest I still believe I can go and achieve what I said I would do.
“If I do go again, I’m doing it to achieve my goals.”
Conlan turned pro in 2017 after a successful amateur career that saw him reach number one in the AIBA bantamweight world rankings.
His achievements include a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games and gold medal at the 2015 World Championships and is regarded as one of Ireland’s most successful amateur boxers of all time.
Conlan has had a successful career as a pro despite failing to achieve the same heights he did in the amateur ranks. Along with the losses to Lopez and Gill, he was stopped by Leigh Wood 28-3 (17) in the 12th round of their fight two years ago.
There is no word yet on the weight division Conlan plans on campaigning in.
