Michael Conlan opens up on depression battle and hitting 'lowest point'

Michael Conlan insists he is ready to bounce back from the "lowest point" in his life and career.

The Belfast boxer hasn't been near a ring since suffering a devastating defeat to Jordan Gill on December 2. He was stopped in the seventh round of a fight he was expected to comfortably win.

It was also the second successive loss following a stoppage defeat to Luis Alberto Lopez last May.

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The double blow left Conlan's career on the ropes, with many fans expecting the 32-year-old to hang up the gloves for good.

But Conlan is made of stronger minerals. He knows there are reasons for his under-par performances against Lopez and Gill, issues that stretched beyond boxing.

And he is now ready to return and silence the critics once again.

Reflecting on the Gill defeat, he told Boxing News Online : “I was at the lowest point I have ever been in my life. That’s not just because of the loss, but also everything else that was happening at that time. It was all to do with family and it’s been very, very tough.

"I have felt proper depression, to be honest with you. It’s been quite hard actually and I feel emotional even saying that to you. But that’s just life, isn’t it?"

Conlan has been staying active in the interim. He joined Road Runners Athletics Club based in Belfast and recently completed the Manchester Marathon in a time of 2:55:46, clocking an average pace of 6:38 per mile.

He has also been keeping busy with his Conlan Boxing promotional company and launched a new beer brand

The featherweight fighter says joining Road Runners offered him a different perspective on life.

“I think joining the running club gave me a better outlook on that: life. Mentally, it helped me so, so much," he said.

"The training for it was probably harder than any boxing training I’ve ever done. These people get up at five o’clock in the morning to go out running and yet they’re not even getting paid for it.

"I said to them one day, ‘There’s something wrong with you. I’m getting paid hundreds of thousands to fight and you lot aren’t being paid a penny to do this.’

“They helped get me through a very dark time in my life. I would never say I was suicidal, but I was just really, really low during that time. I have two kids, so I would never do something stupid like that, or even say something stupid like that, but I was in a really dark place.

“As I keep saying, though: it’s life. These things happen. You’ve just got to run through the muck until you get back on dry ground."

Conlan is a boxer who polarises opinion. He is often targeted with vile social media abuse that has no doubt leathered his skin over the years.

The Falls Road man has previously insisted he "doesn't give a f***" what people say about him, but he is conscious of the online commentary that follows his life and career.

“People don’t see what’s going on in your life, yet they can have an opinion on what you should do with your life – in terms of giving up your profession or not – because we do this thing in a public forum," he said.

"It’s madness. All these people get to comment on your career, but it’s only the minority who know what they are talking about. The majority talk s*** and just want attention. Nowadays you can’t have two losses on the bounce and come back. It’s impossible. You’re ‘shot’; you’re ‘done’; you’re going to ‘do damage to your health’ and all this b***ocks."

Conlan, who expects to return this 'October or November', and potentially in the United States, says he "shouldn’t have been anywhere near a ring" for his fight against Gill.

He said: “There was an awful lot of family stuff – personal stuff – going on before my last fight. It’s nobody else’s business, I suppose, but I shouldn’t have been anywhere near a ring that night.

“That’s life, though, isn’t it? You just get on with it, continue with training, and suddenly the fight arrives. I trained for six weeks with a new coach (Pedro Diaz) and had so much personal s*** going on, so nothing felt right. But you make decisions and you live with the consequences.

“I don’t believe that was the true Michael Conlan and I know he is still there. As a boxer, you know in sparring when you’re getting manhandled by guys you should be controlling, but I was handling guys who were 135 and 140 pounds.

"That wasn’t the problem. It was life. My head wasn’t in it."

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