MICK CONLAN – the Irish icon who bravely pointed his fingers at corrupt boxing judging – now fears doping is rife among British fighters.
The 33-year-old shot to global fame when he stuck his middle digits up at AIBA officials who robbed him of a semi-final place at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Mick Conlan is a freedom fighter for clean and fair boxing around the worldGetty Images – Getty
Sportsfile – SubscriptionMick Conlan pulls no punches when addressing two of the most dangerous issues in boxing[/caption]
The Belfast boy had battered his Russian opponent so badly that he pulled out of the tournament before his next bout.
Conlan helped shine a light on the scandalous judging, which led to the 2021 report by Professor Richard McLaren unearthing multiple “suspicious” results, including Conlan’s and Team GB’s Joe Joyce’s.
But almost a decade later, having struggled to carry his amateur genius into the brutal paid game and lost three of his last six, he fears there’s no an even more dangers dark art at work.
“I think it’s massive,” he said about doping, ahead of his Friday night fight with Jack Bateson.
“I think America was much ahead. Russia, they had always been ahead.
“I think the UK, in a sense, is definitely catching up and there’s people in the UK who are actively doping.”
Conlan seemed destined to bring a professional world title back to Ireland but he has been hit by a hat-trick of KO losses in the last three years and almost retired.
When he does hang up his gloves, world champion or not, he will cherish the fact that he has done it with clear samples and a clear conscience.
But he firmly believes other top-level fighters could be caught red handed.
He explained: “I always said I would never do it because, at the end of my career – whether I achieve or whether I don’t achieve – we will look in the mirror and say, ‘I’ve done it my way.
“I’ve done it the right way, I’ve done it clean.
“Where, as time has gone on, I think these people will look in the mirror and say, ‘f*** it, I’ve won. Everybody else was doing it’,
“That’s what I think.
“I think most people – at the top end in this game – have done or are doing some sort of PEDs.
“And, whether it’s legal doping or not, who knows?”
Bateson didn’t touch the hot topic of boxing doping, but he has enough on his hands with a mission behind fr-enemy lines.
The Leeds grafter is going to Dublin, where 99 per cent of fans will hate him.
But bizarrely the man in the ring punching him is an old sparring partner and they are full of respect for each other.
The 31-year-old said: “There’s no pressure on me because most people who are asked to pick a winner will pick him, because I am fighting in his home.
“But it’s the sort of opportunity I have been crying out for.
“There’s no animosity between me and Mick, I think he’s a great fighter.
“I am best mates with all the lads in the gym but when the bells goes, we beat 10 bells of s*** out of each other – and then the bell ends and you’re hugging again.”
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