BIG-TIME BOXING IN BELFAST IS BACK

This weekend all eyes cast to The SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland as a part of the City’s Feile an Phobail Festival hometown hero Michael ‘Mick’ Conlan returns to action against well-seasoned Columbian Miguel ‘The Scorpion’ Marriaga.

Five months since his valiant loss to Leigh Wood which ended in dramatic fashion, Conlan looks to take a charge back up the featherweight rankings and get his shot at the world titles. Confident that this will be the bout that gets him back in the mix, Conlan said “Miguel is a great fighter and together we’ll give the fans a memorable night at The SSE Arena. This will about get me straight back in the mix for world titles”.

Marriaga is a 3X world title challenger with losses at the hands of Nicholas Walters and Oscar Valdez in the featherweight division and coming up short against the world class Vasiliy Lomachenko for the WBO Junior Lightweight title in 2017.  This will prove to be a big test for Conlan with Marriaga dubbed as one of the biggest punchers in the division.

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After a classicback in March when Conlan came up short against Leigh Wood in round 12, he hasn’t taken his eyes off the world titles. Conlan has done his homework on Marriaga as his old stable mate Oscar Valdez fought the Columbian and Valdez is a ‘hard hitter’ Conlan said and he didn’t take him out. 

Conlan could have taken a much easier fight after a fight of the year contender but that is not in this nature, his performance against Wood gained him new followers but that doesn’t cover the fact he came so close to world honours as a professional.

With a 30-5 record, Marriaga isn’t coming over for a payday, just like Conlan he believes he is very much in the mix for world title bouts in the future! With 28 of his 30 wins coming by stoppage, Conlan will need to be switched on from the very first bell, believing he has learned from his loss to Wood and has what it takes to get the win and his ambition of a world title back on track.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum made it as clear as day that he is ready to get Conlan another shot at another title fight, “There is no place like home, and we are thrilled that Mick will get another chance to perform in front of the tremendous Belfast fans” Arum said. “ With a win over a solid opponent like Marriaga , he’ll once again be contending for a featherweight title in short order”.

The fight is scheduled for 10 rounds in the featherweight division in a bout that could produce a ‘Belter in Belfast! The fight is available exclusively on  ESPN+ in the USA and on FiteTV in the UK. Ringwalks for the main event will get underway around 10.30pm UK time.

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Running order for the card –

Main Card:

Michael Conlan vs Miguel Marriaga

Tyrone McKenna vs Chris Jenkins-10 Round Welterweight

Kieran Molloy vs. Evgenii-6 Round junior middleweight

Padraig McCrory vs Marco Antonio Periban-WBC International Silver super middleweight title

Kurt Walker vs. Marcos Gabriel Martinez- 6 Round featherweight

Paddy Donovan vs Tom Hill-Welterweight

Undercard:

Tony McGlynn vs. James McGivern

Colm Murphy vs Ruadhan Farrell

Fearghus Quinn vs. Seamus Devlin

Thomas Carty vs. Jiri Svacina

By: Harry Ballantyne

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