{"id":396344,"date":"2026-03-21T08:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T08:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/396344\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T08:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T08:51:13","slug":"michael-conlan-retires-from-boxing-after-split-decision-loss-to-kevin-walsh-in-belfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/396344\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Conlan retires from boxing after split-decision loss to Kevin Walsh in Belfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

LAST UPDATE
\n |
\n 8 hrs ago\n <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Gavan Casey<\/p>\n

Reports from the SSE Arena<\/p>\n

MICHAEL CONLAN HAS confirmed his retirement from boxing after suffering a controversial split-decision loss to unbeaten American Kevin Walsh at Belfast\u2019s SSE Arena.<\/p>\n

Flanked by his partner, Shona, and his two children, Luisne and Michael Jr, Conlan announced in his dressing room after the fight that the time was right to hang up the gloves irrespective of the close nature of his defeat.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old Conlan, disappointed by the result but seemingly content with his decision, stressed that his performance against Walsh \u201cwasn\u2019t good enough\u201d to continue his final pursuit of a world title. The Falls Road featherweight said that it was time to focus on his family after a career with which he has already secured their financial future.<\/p>\n

Walsh, a native of Brockton, Massachusetts and a year Conlan\u2019s junior, was adjudged to have won a turgid contest on scores of 96-94 (x2), while one judge saw it 97-93 in favour of hometown hero Conlan.<\/p>\n

This writer scored the bout 96-94 to Conlan from ringside but the contest was sufficiently lacking in action that there could be few legitimate arguments with the official decision.<\/p>\n

In victory, Irish-American Walsh improved his record to 20-0 (11KOs), while former amateur world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Conlan walks away with a record of 20-4 (10KOs).<\/p>\n

\"kevin-walsh-celebrates-after-the-fight\"
\n Kevin Walsh celebrates his split-decision victory. Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO<\/p>\n

Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s me finished,\u201d Conlan said after inviting media into his backstage quarters post-fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always said the next defeat, no matter the situation or no matter the circumstances, that would be me finished with boxing. And it has come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I lost but it wasn\u2019t good enough, and that\u2019s the simple fact. I\u2019m 34, probably too long in the tooth. I don\u2019t want to do it no more. It\u2019s time to say goodbye to boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter if people thought it was close, or if they thought I won, I didn\u2019t win clear enough. For me to be a world champion, I need to be beating guys like that and beating them well. It was just a bit too close for comfort.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, I\u2019ve been in the game a long time\u2026 a long time,\u201d Conlan added. \u201cTo go out the way I\u2019ve gone out may be controversial or whatever, but it\u2019s just time.<\/p>\n

\n

I want to walk away now with my health intact, with my family good. I\u2019ve done really well in boxing, I\u2019ve reached some serious heights, I\u2019ve done some serious arenas in places around the world. I\u2019ve done things a lot of fighters will never get to do.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve achieved an awful lot. Did I reach my goal of being a world champion? No. That\u2019s the hardest part of it all, that I didn\u2019t reach my goal. And me being a stubborn person, I\u2019d want to keep going to do it. <\/p>\n

\n

But I\u2019ve missed a lot of my family\u2019s lives. My two kids; my daughter turns 11 next week, my son is seven. I\u2019ve missed probably 60-75% of their lives in boxing training camps. So, it\u2019s time to go back, time to go home.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"michael-conlan-and-kevin-walsh\"
\n It was a low-action, messy fight in Belfast. Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO<\/p>\n

Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n

In front of a relatively sparse Belfast crowd by Conlan\u2019s usual standards, the two-time Olympian was fairly lethargic throughout. Walsh wasn\u2019t much better, if indeed he was better at all.<\/p>\n

The visitor found some early success, landing a couple of flurries at the end of the first \u2014 enough to nick it \u2014 and might have also shaded a closer-to-call second.<\/p>\n

Conlan was guilty of forcing things in the opening rounds, throwing and missing with such power that he lost his balance on a couple of occasions. He was also forced to contend with a gaping cut in the middle of his forehead, caused by a clash of heads, almost immediately, the blood from which impaired his vision before his corner could stem the flow.<\/p>\n

Conlan, though, established some rhythm in the third, finding his range to Walsh\u2019s body as he began to default to a southpaw stance.<\/p>\n

Having won that round, Conlan continued on the front foot in the fourth, finishing it at the bell with a flush three-punch salvo upstairs as he pulled out of a clinch. The final blow of the combination, however, was delivered to the back of Walsh\u2019s head, which earned him a reprimand. The Belfast man gestured in apology to Walsh as the boxers retreated to their respective corners. <\/p>\n

Having appeared to have discovered some kind of groove, Conlan again took a cagey fifth: a perfectly delivered counter-right hand to Walsh\u2019s jaw was the pick of the sparse action. <\/p>\n

Walsh appeared discouraged during the round, throwing so little that, near the 90-second mark, Conlan dropped his fists and shrugged at the American as if to ask him what he was doing. <\/p>\n

Walsh awoke from his slumber in a tighter sixth, a couple of his right hands finding skin through Conlan\u2019s guard, while the Belfast man tried and failed to set something up behind his rangy southpaw jab. <\/p>\n

It looked like a Walsh round from this writer\u2019s vantage point, and the judges\u2019 scorecards were bound to be close at the turn.<\/p>\n

Likely sensing as much, Conlan upped the tempo in the seventh. A couple of close-quarter exchanges roused the crowd but they were messy, the boxers tangling legs \u2014 a theme throughout the fight \u2014 and stumbling into the ropes. Walsh landed a couple more upstairs, but a quick attack from Conlan towards the bell might have been more eye-catching. It was a coin-flip round, as many of them were. <\/p>\n

\"michael-conlan\"
\n Conlan was cut on his forehead from early in the fight. Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO<\/p>\n

Laszlo Geczo \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n

The eighth might have been scored 0-0 were such a thing permitted: Walsh tried to goad Conlan without risking anything, and Conlan couldn\u2019t get anything going from his southpaw stance. <\/p>\n

Conlan showed enough initiative to control about two minutes and 50 seconds of the ninth \u2014 the penultimate round \u2014 but Walsh landed the only real shots in anger as he thudded the hometown boxer with a three-punch combo seconds before the bell. It still felt like a Conlan round but, given the scorecards, two of the judges must have leaned towards Walsh for his late burst of energy.<\/p>\n

The final entry in an utterly forgettable 10-round contest was, you guessed it, extremely tame, with about the only excitement being when Walsh slipped on the canvas in the dying seconds, which at least brought a laugh out of Conlan.<\/p>\n

The hometown fighter and his fans weren\u2019t smiling when the judges\u2019 verdict was read out from centre-ring and Kevin Walsh collapsed to his knees in celebration. <\/p>\n

But as Conlan said afterwards, \u201cit is what it is\u201d. And his professional career was what it was: just under a decade of far more memorable occasions than was the case on Saturday at the SSE Arena, 24 fights with sizeable purses, raucous crowds, and lifelong memories.<\/p>\n

The overwhelming majority of boxers would love to be able to bow out on their own terms having achieved the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAST UPDATE | 8 hrs ago Gavan Casey Reports from the SSE Arena MICHAEL CONLAN HAS confirmed his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[32544,68979,18,19,17,132],"class_list":["post-396344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-boxing","tag-calling-time","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116266317748613262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}