MICHAEL CONLAN BOXED carefully and cleverly as he earned a shut-out points victory over the previously 10-1(2KOs) Ibon Larrinaga at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
The Falls Road featherweight was content to be taken eight rounds for the first time ahead of his career-biggest test versus Brazilian former world-title challenger Adeilson Dos Santos in Belfast next month, and conscious of a prospective cut or injury taking a spanner to those plans, took few risks en route to a 80-72 (x3) points win.
With Andy Lee in his corner, Conlan, fighting in the ‘big’ Garden upstairs for the first time, entered the ring wearing a New York Knicks jersey brandishing his surname.
Larrinaga, who hails from Bilbao – home to another great Irish victory hours prior – wore his native colours and while he was a tricky customer, barely landed a shot in anger as he suffered his second professional defeat.
Conlan put Larrinaga on the backfoot early through clever footwork alone, and stung the Spaniard with two right hands to the chin a minute in. Utilising superb head movement, the Irishman weaved closer to his foe, softening him to the body and not taking so much as a skimmer in return.
He upped the ante slightly with a minute gone in the second, unleashing two barbed three-punch combos in quick succession. Larrinaga’s body was again targeted to some success, and Conlan finished with a thudding overhand right at the bell which was partially blocked by his foe’s left glove.
His right was more potent again in the third, landing at will on Larrinaga’s whiskers from various angles, knocking him backwards with an uppercut at its midway point. The 27-year-old Basque native threw a couple of searchers of his own but scarcely bothered the Belfast boy who returned to his corner in complete control.
A messier start to the fourth saw Conlan off-target with his jab but still touching base with his opponent. Larrinaga landed a right in response, but was left reeling by a powerful Conlan right hook with 40-odd seconds left in the stanza. Conlan, sensing blood, tried to position himself to deliver the killer blow, but Larrinaga scrambled well up close. The frustrated Conlan flung him from around his hips to the canvas, and was perhaps fortunate not to receive a warning.
He was a bit impatient for a minute or so of the following verse, but for every right hand which missed wildly, another found the spot. An aggressive fifth, though, was followed by a more tentative sixth as neither man produced much of note.
A decent four-punch assault was the pick of the action in the seventh, also quiet, as Conlan moved gracefully but rarely followed up behind his jab.
A thudding right early in the final round was stifled well by the defensively sound Larrinaga. Conlan finished with a flurry, landing a sharp left and right upstairs and hurting the 27-year-old before unleashing to Larrinaga’s body.
The final bell – which had seemed inevitable for the bones of four rounds – did eventually sound, however, and a mouse under his left eye aside, Conlan is all set for a stiffer test at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena next month.
The two-time Irish Olympian improves to 7-0(5KOs) as he gears up to headline in his hometown.
