Michael Conlan Outlast Doheny in Belfast

Michael “Mick” Conlan was in front of a hometown Falls Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom Friday night and had his toughest test to date against TJ Doheny before winning via unanimous decision.

The official scorecards were 119-108 and 116-111 x 2 all in favor for Conlan in a fight that was closer than the scorecards indicated.

The Featherweight contender Conlan was fighting in front of a crowd in a setting and familiar territory for him.This, as he was in the same Féile an Phobail festival back in 2019, defeating Diego Ruiz.This time was a lot differen,t as he was facing former Super Bantamweight title holder in Doheny.

The interim WBA Featherweight title was on the line (who doesn’t have one of these?) and the first few rounds of this had absolutely nothing going on, as both Conlan and Doheny were trying to figure each other out. The bout became very tactical form the onset, as the southpaw Doheny was making it difficult for Conlan to get any clean shots.

The action picked up slightly in the third round, as Doheny was the aggressor landing shots on the inside. Conlan was looking to do the same while making Dohney miss, which was the general theme of the opening rounds.

🇮🇪 W A R 🔥 T I M E ☘️

The electricity of a @mickconlan11 walk-out in Belfast … nothing like it.#ConlanDoheny Main Event is LIVE NOW on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/UoYwQ0VY01

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) August 6, 2021

Conlan picked up the action starting in the fourth round, attacking with smart pressure to the body of Dohney to try to slow him down. This led to a ruled knockdown, as Dohney was stunned by a body shot and was held up by the ropes. Conlan tried to finish him off but Dohney was able to survive to round and was able to withstand the onslaught by Conlan.

The broadcast made a point to stating how Conlan used a lot of energy to try to get Dohney out of there and that would play into the sixth as it looked to be a good comeback round for Doheny. As the fight grew on, Doheny was able to have a lot of success by simply keeping cutting the ring off from Conlan. Conlan was able to answer however by keeping the fight in the center of the ring and a distance.

A cut appeared above the right eye of Conlan after a solid left landed clean to close out the eighth round. At this point in the fight, it was pretty clear that it still could go either way. The workrate for Dohney after a 17 month layoff at this point didn’t show any effects at all and was still the aggressor towards rhe final bell. The 12th and final round showed one last burst from Conlan, but Dohney was still around to keep the action going.

With the win, Conlan now has the interim WBA title at 126 pounds. Well see what that means down the line? But, this was an impressive showing for the Irishman in front of the hometown faithful in Belfast.