Waterfront Brawl: Conlan close to British title shot but Molnar comes first

Photographs: Cyclone Promotions

Jamie Conlan fights Hungary’s Gabor Molnar on June 20 and the Belfast starlet is hopeful that a good win will finally push him into a British title shot. With 1,200 tickets already sold for the show there will be a healthy crowd inside the Waterfront Hall on Friday night to see the young prospects ply their trade. Molnar is well-travelled and has faced a good level of opposition during his career but tends to lose when stepping up. The main concern for Jamie could be the mystery factor that Molnar brings to the ring.

“The main thing for me is getting the win and looking good,” said Conlan.

“Eamonn Magee always says that his hardest fights were the ones he didn’t know anything about. John and Eamonn have been on top of me because I just can’t underestimate this guy. It’s always tougher defending the title than winning it.”

Conlan paid homage to lower-weight rival Paul Butler’s display on June 7 when the English boxer took ownership of Stuart Hall’s IBF bantamweight title.

“You can’t take anything away from Butler, he did brilliant, moving up and winning a world title. I did rate the performance, he did very well,” lauded ‘The Mexican’.

Cyclone Promotions’ main man Barry McGuigan is annoyed that Jamie is still waiting around for his crack at the Lonsdale belt.  Hopefully the 27-year-old, who sports an 11-0 (7 KOs) record, will fight Anthony Nelson for the vacant crown on Carl Frampton’s September undercard.

“We have been pushing the British Board very hard because he deserves a British title fight. I’m really cross that he hasn’t had his chance by now. The title’s vacant after Butler moved up to win the world bantamweight title. Jamie’s been in line for the last year-and-a-half and Jake’s been hounding Robert Smith – we have staked our claim.

“Molnar will be lucky to last seven or eight rounds with him. Jamie will be better because he’s been active and I think he’s the type of kid that responds to regular fights. We have a very good relationship with Frank Warren and Jamie can easily slip up to bantamweight so there are lots of opportunities out there. I’d like him to be busier first and win the British super-flyweight title.”