It?s been almost 25 years since an Olympic boxer making his pro debut got the kind of promotional push in the U.S. that Ireland?s Michael Conlan is getting from Top Rank.
Not since Oscar De La Hoya in 1992 has a promoter put so much muscle ? and money ? into a debuting Olympian.
Conlan will headline a show at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday on St. Patrick?s Day, facing little known Tim Ibarra. UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will walk Conlan to the ring. Top Rank president Todd duBoef said 2,000 Irish are expected to come to New York for the fight. The Theater is expected to sell out.
Conlan is best known for his rant at the judges and his tweet to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 Olympics, following a loss to Russia?s Vladimir Nikitin in the second round of the bantamweight tournament.
Conlan gave a double middle finger salute to the judges after the scores were read and he was eliminated from the tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He went off on the judges and AIBA in his post-fight interview session, and then memorably tweeted to Putin, ?How much did they charge you bro???
Top Rank signed Conlan in September and announced he?d make his pro debut on St. Patrick?s Day.
At the time of the signing, St. Patrick?s Day was seven months away, and there was little indication of how intense Top Rank?s push for Conlan would be. It?s been greater even than what Floyd Mayweather got coming out of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, when he won a bronze, for what gold medalists David Reid (1996) or Andre Ward (2004) got when they turned pro.
And it all is because of that one tweet to Putin, which received more than 44,000 likes and nearly 19,000 retweets.
?It?s not just about how successful he was in the Olympics,? duBoef told Yahoo Sports on Monday. ?It?s the whole package, what he did for the sport at the Olympics. He made a big statement and created a lot of noise. He got a tremendous amount of people interested in him. ?
?It?s a weird dynamic. Going into the Olympics, we had interest in him. He was on the list of guys we wanted to look at, but to be honest, we figured he?d do what most of the fighters from the U.K. and Ireland do and sign with [British promoters like] a Frank Warren or an Eddie Hearn. We felt it was kind of a long shot but worth watching. But after what happened ? ?
Conlan?s rant made him one of the big stories of the Olympic games. He won a bronze medal in the London Games in 2012, but didn?t get nearly as much attention.
For months, Top Rank has pushed Conlan like few others. They?ve set up dozens of interviews, held public workouts, scheduled conference calls and sent out hundreds of email updates on him.
It?s almost as if the biggest fight of the week, the IBF-WBA-WBC middleweight title unification bout on HBO Pay-Per-View between Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs Saturday in the main arena at the Garden is getting overshadowed by this 0-0 Irish fighter.
Conlan dismissed the notion of pressure on his shoulders, saying ?pressure is for tires,? but he knows there will be many eyeballs upon him. View photos
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will walk Michael Conlan to the ring at Madison Square Garden on Friday for his pro debut. (Getty Images) More
And the scrutiny is going to increase because of the presence of McGregor, inarguably the most popular active fighter in combat sports today, at his side.
?At first I texted Conor McGregor about walking me into the ring,? Conlan said at a recent workout. ?He texted ?Yes.? Then we met in person and we shook hands on it and he said he would be honored to walk with me into the ring at Madison Square Garden.
?Ireland is coming to New York City on Friday night and I am eternally grateful for all of the Irish fans who support me. I want my first fight to be very exciting, to make the trip worthwhile for all of our Irish fans. I love them all. The nation?s pride rests on my shoulders.?
