Michael Conlan is eager to kick off a busy summer schedule with his second professional bout in the US next week.
The world amateur champion headlines a US fight bill for the second time in two months next Friday, May 26, when he takes on Mexican journeyman Alfredo Chanez at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
Following on from his successful debut win at New York’s Madison Square Garden Theatre last March, Conlan’s Top Rank promoters have once again opted to install the 25-year-old as a fight card’s main attraction in a city with a traditionally strong Irish-American community.
Plans are also in place for the Belfast-native to feature on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s July 2 world welterweight title defence against Jeff Horn in Brisbane as Top Rank seek to lure a large Irish population in Australia to the bill.
And having returned to training a little over a week after his St Patrick’s Day pro debut, Conlan is itching to get back in the ring.
"I just can’t wait to get in there and get it done," he said. "I’ve been looking forward to it, I’ve got a few fights and a lot coming up so I want to get it going after all the waiting around.
"It feels like forever since the debut, so I’m glad I’ll be back next week. I just want to get it done and get another fight out of the way."
The Falls Road fighter will travel from his Los Angeles training base to Chicago on Monday ahead of the fight-week build-up.
Conlan has been hard at work under trainer Manny Robles at the coach’s Carson base where the likes of Irish middleweight Jason Quigley and world champions Oscar Valdez, Gilberto Ramirez and Jessie Magdaleno also train.
And the 25-year-old claims he is flying fit ahead of next week’s six-round bout, which will be held between the super-bantamweight (122lbs) and featherweight (126lbs) limits.
"It’s been great working with Manny," said Conlan. "I feel like I’m improving all the time. I’ve just worked hard as usual and put all the work in during my camp.
"He’s happy with how I’m progressing so if he’s happy then I’m happy.
"I finished up sparring on Monday, I didn’t feel like I needed to do any more. I did enough during camp, an awful lot of sparring. I was back sparring a week-and-a-half after my last fight so I was straight back into it and I haven’t been lying about.
"I’m just getting the last bit of weight off now, nothing too heavy, and waiting to get fighting," added Conlan, who is not talking up his Mexican journeyman opponent.
Chanez sports a modest 4-4 record – the same as that carried by Conlan’s last opponent, Tim Ibarra, ahead of their bout last March – and while the Mexican has never been stopped, he is coming off the back of two defeats having previously fought at lower weight classes.
"I’ve watched a few of his fights. It should be handy enough. He’s going to be tough but I’m not worried," said Conlan.
"There’s no point [talking him up]. I just need to get moving and get it done. Obviously he’s going to be tough, he’s a Mexican fighter. He’s never fought outside of Mexico, but he’ll come to fight.
"He was on a bit of a (four-fight) winning streak and then he lost his last two fights – the last one was by a split decision – but he’ll be game anyway and he’ll come to win.
"He’s not coming to lie down, but I’ll be up for it and ready to rock," added the f.ormer Olympic medallist.
