Jamie Conlan: It’s sink or swim in Belfast

Training underwater for a crucial fight at a venue named after an ill-fated ship that ended up at the bottom of the ocean may be tempting fate. But Jamie Conlan, who has been training underwater in Spain, remains supremely confident ahead of Saturday’s clash with Hungary’s David Koos at the Titanic Centre in his native Belfast.

Finding an opponent for Saturday – three withdrew – has been frustrating for unbeaten (17-0-0, 11 KO) Conlan, who reckons every fight is an eliminator for the big one from here on in.

“I think everything now is kinda a world title fight in my head because if I slip, I’m down the ladder again, I’m back at the start again,” he said. “The final eliminator for a world title seems to be confirmed. The momentum is changing, before it was always in the background..

“It was tough, constantly going under the water holding your breath, improving endurance and longevity,” he added in relation to training under water.

Ireland’s three-time Olympian Paddy Barnes makes his pro debut on the Conlan - brother of Olympian Michael - versus Koos undercard. Barnes debuts against Bulgaria’s Stefan Slavchev with one eye on his Chinese nemesis Zou Shiming, who beat him in the 2007 Worlds and the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 semi-finals. ‘By the end of 2017, I expect to be knocking at the door of the world champions,” said the two-time Olympic bronze medallist.

“Zou Shiming is the fight I’ll be chasing. I know it’ll have to be in China but that’s no problem. I’ll beat him over 12 rounds. I punch harder, I’ve a better engine.”

Meanwhile, Anthony Joshua has been cleared to fight Wladimir Klitschko for the vacant WBA heavyweight title next year. Joshua, who claimed the IBF world heavyweight title in April, will have to beat American Eric Molina in Manchester on December 10 for the Klitschko clash to go ahead. A prospective December bout against the Ukrainian was scuppered by a combination of boxing politics and a minor injury sustained by Klitschko. Confusion over whether the WBA title, vacated by Tyson Fury, would be on the line was one of the reasons a fight between Joshua and Klitschko was originally put on the back burner.

But with the WBA now officially sanctioning the clash, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed he is now hard at work on securing a date, saying the fight would be staged in “spring 2017.”