Michael Conlan on Wednesday survived a last minute knockdown to create boxing history, becoming the first Irishman to win an AIBA World Boxing Championship title.
Conlan, 23, said it was the first time he had ever been knocked down in his life, but he still clung on to claim the bantamweight title (56kg) at the championships in Doha.
The Belfast boxer, already the European and Commonwealth champion, won a brawling encounter against Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
Photo: AFP
The pair went toe-to-toe, but Conlan had moved narrowly ahead on points by the time they entered the final round.
In desperation, the Uzbek threw a big right hook in the final minute, which connected with Conlan’s chin to send the Irishman sprawling.
Clearly shaken, Conlan held on for the final few seconds to win his nation’s first ever gold. Bizarrely, the judges gave Conlan the final round, which was harsh on Akhmadaliev.
“I am a world champion. There is not much more I can say to be honest. I am a bit speechless,” Conlan said afterward.
“I have never been put down in my life, head shot or body shot... [He hit me] sweet on the chin and I was down, but it is a testament to my fitness, you know,” Conlan said.
Conlan, cheered on by a large number of Irish fans in the packed Ali bin Hamad al-Attiyah Arena in the Qatari capital, also became a father for the first time this year and said he was “desperate” to get home to see his baby daughter.
He prepared for the fight by watching the Sylvester Stallone boxing classic Rocky II on Tuesday and joked afterward that he identified with the film’s star, who says in the movie that winning a boxing title was the best day of his life after his baby being born.
Also on Wednesday, a new star of Cuban boxing was born when the baby-faced Joahnys Argilagos took gold, aged just 18.
The stylish teenager danced, bobbed and weaved his way to the title in the light-flyweight division (46kg-49kg), and, like Conlan, even overcame being knocked down in the final round.
Argilagos said afterward that he had “prepared well” for the tournament and wanted more medals.
“Now I am the world champion, I want to win gold in Rio,” he said about next year’s Olympics.
Argilagos, nicknamed “Small Giant,” did just enough in the first two rounds to take the title, the first gold medal of the tournament.
He outsmarted Russia’s Vasili Egorov and was cruising to the title before near-disaster struck in the third, when he was floored by a right and received a count of eight.
However, the judges decided the title was still his.
It was one of two gold medals Cuba took, with Arlen Lopez winning in the middleweight (75kg) division.
However, Erislandy Savon missed out at heavyweight (91kg), losing somewhat surprisingly to Russia’s Evgeny Tishchenko.
Russia also won gold at light-welterweight (64kg), with Vitaly Dunaytsev beating Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov.
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