Bantamweight world champion Michael Conlan has revealed that he plans to turn pro after the Olympics in Rio next year and insists he will be doing so with a gold medal around his neck.
The Belfast man, who became Ireland's first male amateur world champion in Qatar last month, doesn't see himself competing in 2020 but intends to end his amateur career by completing a full set of European, Commonwealth, Gold and Olympic titles next year.
"No matter who it is in front of me, they're not going to stop me"
"I'm really looking forward to going to Rio and I know that I will get a gold medal," he told RTÉ Sport.
"I'll be going in to Rio as the number one seed and the favourite. It doesn't put any pressure on me, it actually gives me extra confidence.
"There's no doubt in my mind. I can feel it. I can see what I'm going to do, who I'm going to fight and what way I'm going to beat them. No matter who it is in front of me, they're not going to stop me.
"I've always wanted to be a professional boxer. Even if the worst thing in the world happened and I got injured and didn't get the gold or didn't even get a medal I'd have to go.
"I couldn't stay around for another Olympics. I'll definitely be gone but I want to be going away with gold, no injuries, no losses. Nothing's going to stop me."
Conlan, who turns 24 this month, also predicted a record haul for Ireland's boxers in Brazil - he considers his fellow world medallists Joe Ward (silver) and Michael O'Reilly (bronze) also have a good chance of going all the way.
"I think it's going to be our best Olympics ever," said Conlan. "I think there's going to be more than three gold medals.
"I believe me and Paddy [Barnes] are definitely getting gold. If he had gone to the World Championships he would have won them with one hand. I've seen him operating and I've seen his opponents.
"Katie [Taylor] is such a consistent performer and there's no reason she's not going to win gold.
"Joe on his day will beat anybody. The Cuban who beat him [in the World Championships final] is a class act but he was World champion at the the last Olympics as well and he folded.
"Then you have Michael O'Reilly, who's a special talent. He will qualify and he has a possibility of getting gold. If he wants it enough, he'll get it.
"We had five fighters that qualified last time but this time I think we'll have more."
Irish skipper Conlan admitted that he was sad to see Billy Walsh depart, after the former head coach joined the USA women's team, but he was adamant that it wouldn't affect the success of Ireland's boxers.
"I will miss Billy, I was good friends with him and very close to him, but as captain of the team I can reassure people that we're not going anywhere," he said. "Everybody's going to be there performing and improving all the time.
"We're not going to get any less medals because one person is gone.
"All the training structures Billy left are all still in place and they'll all be implemented," he said. "We've got Zaur [Antia] who's just as experienced as Billy and he's probably the best technical coach I've ever worked under.
"My father [John] is more or less doing the same job as Billy in Ulster, he's the Ulster high-performance coach.
"Billy's job will be filled. It's going to be okay. Ireland's amateur scene isn't going to change because of one man.
"You've got to take into consideration that this is a full team. Just like if one fighter left the team it wouldn't change the results."
Meanwhile Conlon hinted on twitter that he may not be the only member of the Irish team that will be looking to the professional ranks after next year's Olympics.
@paddyb_ireland has told me he's going pro after Rio, he wants to end @PrincePatel1993 career on his debut with his first punch #LeftHook 👊🏼
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) November 6, 2015
