Having qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics with plenty of time to spare, a confident Michael Conlan believes he will come back from Brazil with a gold medal.
The Belfast boxer won bronze at the London Olympics in 2012 and qualified alongside fellow Belfast boxer Paddy Barnes through weekend victories in the World Series of Boxing with Italia Thunder.
The bantamweight, who won his bronze in the flyweight division, says that he is a different beast now, having matured in the last three years.
He told RTÉ Sport: “I was very immature in my feeding. Now I’m a lot stronger, I’m a lot bigger. I’m up a weight division and I feel it’s helped me with my strength, ten-fold. So going to Rio I know I’m going to win gold.
“It’s not about thinking about it, I know I’m going to win gold and I’m going to put a proper preparation in for it. I’ll be coming back from Rio with gold.
“I think I’m coming into my prime in my amateur career now. I’ll be 24 going to Rio. I’ll be a fully developed man. Last time I was only a boy going to London and I came away with a bronze.”
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