Michael Conlan insists he is not concerned about fighting outdoors for the first time as a professional when he takes to ring in Brisbane this weekend.
World amateur Conlan competes in his third pro bout on Sunday afternoon local time – the wee hours of Sunday morning Irish time – in one of two chief-support bouts to Manny Pacquiao’s WBO world welterweight title defence against Aussie Jeff Horne at the Suncorp Stadium.
While it is wintertime Down Under, the weather remains pleasant and quite warm in Brisbane, with temperatures expected to be around 22 degrees Celsius on Sunday.
Conlan, however, is unfazed about fighting outside in front of a crowd of over 55,000 when he takes on local fighter Jarrett Owen, who carries a record of 5-4-3, over six rounds between the super-bantam and featherweight limits.
"It hasn’t entered my head. The fight’s going to be early enough in the day as well so it’s not going to be too hot at that time. I love the heat," said Conlan, whose regular training base is in Los Angeles at coach Manny Robles’ Rock Gym in Carson.
"The gym in LA is probably warmer inside than it is outside at times and we have to get on with it in there.
"Even throughout my career, when I was training in Breen’s Gym (Belfast), you’re training in probably 100 [degrees] Fahrenheit or whatever it is," laughed the 25-year-old, who has some experience of boxing outdoors in Australia as he claimed a flyweight gold medal at the Arafura Games – a now defunct tournament – back in 2009.
"That was outdoors, my first senior international tournament," recalled Conlan. "I won gold after three fights and I was way more nervous about that, although it was at night time."
The world amateur champion travelled to Brisbane from LA last week and is comfortable that he has acclimatised ahead of his bout, which will be screened live in the US, Ireland and Britain.
Conlan is expected to box at noon local time, while Pacquiao will be in the ring a couple of hours later as the fight card has been set to suit primetime TV in the US on Saturday night with ESPN set to broadcast the bill to an anticipated Stateside audience of 5-10 million. BoxNation will screen the card live in Ireland and the UK.
A public workout was held for some undercard fighters in Brisbane this afternoon, but Conlan was not obliged to go through his paces as he has balanced other media commitments with training throughout the week.
"It’s been no problem at all… I kind of just adjusted [to the time difference] on the plane. I’ve been waking up early in the morning over here, about 6am, and I’ve been training around the time I’ll be in the ring," explained the Matthew Macklin-managed fighter, who sparred undefeated two Australian prospects, brothers Jason and Andrew Moloney, earlier this week – the latter a 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
"I done a bit of sparring and I felt good and sharp," said Conlan. "They’d probably be two of the best here in Australia, a super-bantam and bantam.
"I sparred them and done three rounds with each… I was doing six rounds straight, but they were gassing more than me and they were only fighting the other week [on June 3]."
While the weekend’s bout will mark the Conlan’s first undercard date, having headlined his first two bills in New York and Chicago, the 25-year-old expressed his delight at being afforded the opportunity to feature on a card topped by eight-weight world champion and Top Rank stablemate Pacquaio.
The Belfast native believes the undercard slot will afford him the chance to box without attracting the same high level of analysis that surrounded his previous headline dates against limited opposition.
"It’s still up there and high profile, but there’s not that added pressure to go out there steal the show," said Conlan, who has not yet had the chance to chat with Pacquiao.
"No, I was in the same lift as him but I was a bit starstruck! And he had all his security around him so I didn’t want to be trying to start a conversation," laughed the Falls Road fighter.
"But he liked one of my tweets a few hours later so he must’ve been on my Twitter page after that!
"He’s one of my favourite fighters… I’m honoured to fight on a Pacquiao undercard. It’s a special, special event," added Conlan, who is expected to attract support from the large Irish expatriate community Down Under.
