Irish superstar and Featherweight prospect Michael Conlan Improves to 7-0, 5 KOs as he scores a unanimous decision victory over Spain’s Ibon Larrinaga (10-2, 2 KOs) on the undercard of the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Jorge Linares world title bout at Madison Square Garden in New York City where Conlan has now fought four times.
The official scores at ringside were 80-72 x 3.
Conlan didn’t get the knockout this time around has he did a mere seven weeks ago when he stopped David Berna at The Garden on St. Patrick’s Day but Conlan did manage to win every round on all three judges scorecards in a one-sided blowout in which Larrinaga was resigned to throwing one punch at a time and roller skating around the ring.
This is only the second time Conlan has gone the distance in his professional career.
The 26-year-old Belfast star remained composed as he raked Larrinaga’s face with blistering right hands forcing the Spaniard to fight off the backheel rather than trading.
This marked the second bout for Conlan with new trainer Adam Booth after deciding to leave Manny Robles and relocate to the UK to be closer to his family.
Conlan tried to close the show in the eighth and final round as the waning seconds ticked away a blistering right hand hurt Larrinaga and sent him staggering to the ropes. Conlan pumped a few more right hands at Larrinaga’s head but clock ran out and Larrinaga survived till the end.
Conlan also had Larrinaga hurt in the fourth when a body shot opened up Larrinaga for a huge three-punch combination punctured by a sharp left hook.
Larrinaga leaned in on Conlan and the Irishman flung Larrinaga to the canvas resulting in a slip instead of a knockdown.
Conlan is a two-time Irish Olympian capturing the bronze medal at the 2012 London games and then losing a controversial semi-final decision in Rio in 2016 when Conlan famously flipped the bird to television viewers all over the world.
Header photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
