Michael Conlan, two-time Olympic athlete, announces retirement following recent defeat.
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Irish boxer Michael Conlan, who infamously gestured at the judges during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games with his middle fingers, announced his intention to retire without fulfilling his aspiration of becoming a world champion.
The 34-year-old Belfast featherweight suffered a 10-round split decision defeat to undefeated Kevin Walsh at the SSE Arena on Friday night.
Conlan, who was favored to win, had anticipated that a victory would lead to an opportunity to challenge WBC featherweight champion Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington.
“I want to step away now, with my health intact and my family well. I’ve accomplished a lot in boxing,” a battered Conlan stated to reporters, with his wife and two children present beside him.
“I’ve achieved a great deal. Did I attain my goal of becoming a world champion? No. That is the most difficult aspect of it all.”
One judge scored the match 97-93 in favor of Conlan (20-4), while the other two judges scored it 96-94 for Walsh (20-0), who hails from Brockton, the same Massachusetts city known for producing Rocky Marciano and Marvelous Marvin Hagler.
“I always said that the next defeat—regardless of the situation or circumstances—would mark the end of my boxing career, and that moment has arrived,” Conlan remarked.
“I believed I won, but it is what it is. I no longer wish to continue. It’s time to bid farewell to boxing.”
Conlan contested for the IBF world featherweight title in 2023, losing to Luis Alberto Lopez via a fifth-round stoppage.
He secured a bronze medal for Ireland at the 2012 London Olympics and became an amateur world champion three years later, but he garnered more attention during the 2016 Rio Games, where he lost a controversial split decision in a bantamweight quarterfinal to Russian Vladimir Nikitin.
Following that loss, Conlan delivered an expletive-filled tirade on live television, including raising his middle fingers towards the judges.
In 2021, an investigator appointed by the International Boxing Association concluded that medal bouts in boxing at the 2016 Games were manipulated by “complicit and compliant” referees and judges. The report did not determine whether the outcome of the Conlan-Nikitin match was fixed.
In the professional arena, Conlan defeated Nikitin by unanimous decision in 2019.
“I’ve done quite well, but I’ve never reached the goal of being a world champion,” Conlan expressed on Saturday. “There is a sense of relief. Now I can spend time with my family…
“It’s just not meant to be, and that’s all there is to it.”
