Michael Conlan makes a debut under the Matchroom banner this Saturday night at the SSE Arena in Belfast, and he moves up to super featherweight to take on Jordan Gill over twelve rounds.
DAZN televise Conlan vs Gill live worldwide.
Conlan (18-2, 9 KOs) is at a crossroads in his career, after two failed world title attempts, and will want to look at his best in order to climb the ranks at his new weight.
Following a controversial defeat at the 2016 Olympics, the Belfast man went through the ranks to eventually earn a world title shot against WBA featherweight champion Leigh Wood last March.
All was going serenely for Conlan in Nottingham, after scoring a heavy first round knockdown, and he was ahead on the cards before being knocked down in the penultimate frame, and then dramatically knocked out in the last round.
The 32-year-old rebuilt with two wins against Miguel Marriaga and Karim Guerfi, stopping the Frenchman inside a round, and that led to another world title shot, this time a crack at IBF king, Luis Alberto Lopez.
The Mexican proved too much, halting Conlan in five. He now returns against Gill (27-2-1, 8 KOs), a man also moving up in weight and coming off a loss.
‘The Thrill’ hasn’t boxed since October last year, and looked fragile eight months earlier. Despite knocking out the aforementioned Guerfi in nine to win the European featherweight title, Gill was behind on the cards, dropped in the seventh and hurt badly, before finding a finisher.
The 29-year-old looked very uneasy in losing that belt at Wembley Arena, floored four times on the way to a fourth round defeat to Kiko Martinez.
Prediction: Gill has looked shopworn in his most recent outings, and Conlan will have many battle scars from his defeats, but I favour the home fighter to prevail inside schedule, possibly early.
Agyarko battles Williamson
The undercard features an intriguing clash at super welterweight, as former British champion Troy Williamson takes on Caoimhin Agyarko over ten rounds.
Williamson (20-1-1, 14 KOs) lost his British title to local rival Josh Kelly last December, and returned with a six round points win in July.
Agyarko (13-0, 7 KOs) is stepping up in class, but has been ten rounds in his last three contests.
Prediction: I think Agyarko can take another points win in this one.
Maxwell meets McComb
Another interesting crossroads clash comes at super lightweight, where former British and Commonwealth champion, Sam Maxwell meets Sean McComb.
Maxwell (17-2, 11 KOs) lost his titles to the excellent Dalton Smith via seventh round stoppage in July, while McComb (17-1, 5 KOs) is on a run of six straight wins since being stopped by Gavin Gwynne in a Commonwealth lightweight title tilt in 2021.
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Prediction: McComb can take a points win, with Maxwell having been in some wars in his last few contests.
McKenna clashes with Crocker
The preliminaries also feature the talented Lewis Crocker in action, and the welterweight has a ten round assignment in a Belfast derby against Tyrone McKenna.
McKenna (23-3-1, 6 KOs) has been in with the likes of Jack Catterall, Ohara Davies and Regis Prograis, all in losing efforts.
Just complete carnage 🍿@Tyronemck & @lewiscrocker1 forced apart in their face off in Belfast 🔥#McKennaCrocker | @DAZNBoxing | #ConlanGill pic.twitter.com/NGtXhAKQMM
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) November 29, 2023
Prediction: Despite his experience, I favour the fresher Crocker (17-0, 10 KOs) to score a win inside the distance.
Remaining Undercard
In a super featherweight six rounder, Gerard Hughes (4-0) should prevail on the cards against Ruadhan Farrell (4-1, 2 KOs).
Fearghus Quinn (8-0, 3 KOs) makes a fourth and final appearance of 2023 and the middleweight will likely need all six rounds to deal with Bulgaria’s Angel Emilov (11-53-3, 7 KOs), who has only been stopped twice in over 50 defeats.
Sharpshooter 🔥 @CameronVuong #ConlanGill | @DAZNBoxing pic.twitter.com/SBw1oXA4NS
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) November 29, 2023
The highly-touted Cameron Vuong (2-0, 1 KO) fights for the third time in two months, and the Blyth native should take another inside the distance win in his lightweight six rounder against Hungary’s Laszlo Sandor Balogh (2-1, 1 KO).
Emmanuel Buttigieg makes his professional debut, and the Londoner can outscore Portugal’s unbeaten Mario Oliveira (1-0) over four rounds at middleweight.
