Michael Conlan justifies hype amid pomp

Walking from a snow-capped Madison Square Garden to Times Square with Michael Conlan only a year ago would have taken all of 10 minutes.

On Saturday night, 24 hours removed from the Belfast super-bantamweight’s professional debut at The Garden’s sold-out ‘Theater’ arena, that same 10-minute stroll turns into a 45-minute slog through the icy Big Apple breeze, as dozens of fans emerging from Gennady Golovkin’s sensational world middleweight title scrap with Danny Jacobs spot Conlan outside the venue.

They bashfully request photographs before departing with ‘well dones’, ‘good lucks’ and fawning man-hugs, in disbelief that he’d be walking amongst them outside having headlined a couple of doors down just a night previous.