Michael Conlan Retires After Loss: “It wasn’t good enough”

Irish fighter steps away after saying performance no longer meets his standard

Michael Conlan has retired after a split decision loss to Kevin Walsh in Belfast, saying his performance no longer meets his own standard. The 34-year-old confirmed the decision immediately after the fight.

“It wasn’t good enough,” Conlan said after the fight. “No matter if it was close or people thought I won, I didn’t win clear enough.”

Conlan did not argue the outcome or lean on the crowd reaction. He measured the fight against his own requirement to win convincingly at this stage of his career and concluded he could no longer do that consistently.

“For me to be a world champion and beating guys like that and beating them well, that was just a bit too close for comfort,” he said. “It’s time to say goodbye to boxing.”

He had already set the condition for this moment. Conlan explained that any loss, regardless of how it looked, would be the end.

“No matter the circumstances. If it was a robbery, that’s time,” he said. “It’s enough.”

The decision followed a stretch where results had already moved against him, with defeats to Leigh Wood, Luis Alberto Lopez and Jordan Gill before Friday’s fight. This bout had been positioned as a chance to steady things, but instead, it confirmed where he now stands.

Conlan spoke openly about the years he has given to the sport and what it has taken in return. He described boxing as something that provides opportunities while demanding personal cost, particularly time away from his family.

He also accepted the part of his career that remains unfinished. A world title was the goal throughout, and it is the one target he did not reach.

“I’ve done really well. I’ve achieved an awful lot. Did I reach my goal to be a world champion? No,” he said. “That’s the hardest part about it.”

The bout headlined the first MFPro card, and promoter Kalle Sauerland reacted on the DAZN broadcast after the decision, saying he felt “embarrassed” for boxing when Michael Conlan did not get the verdict.

“It’s times like this when you promote an event and you don’t know what to say. I’m embarrassed for the sport of boxing. I got in the ring and Mick said, ‘how many rounds you reckon?’ I didn’t even count after round six, seven.

“Mick maybe gave up the first two, you could maybe give Walsh two more rounds in the entire fight, that’s me being kind. What on earth. It was a cagey fight, yes, but it’s just incredible.

“It baffles me what on earth they’re watching. The swing of it between the one judge and the others. I’m lost for words. It’s embarrassing.”

Sauerland added that a rematch clause is in place, though he does not see a need to use it.

“You look at Conlan – he’s gone through a camp, he’s preparing for a world title shot, and you get two blind people scoring the fight. That’s all you can say. You cannot make it up.

“I don’t blame him for being upset. We’ve got a rematch option but quite frankly I don’t want to see the fight again. It was a very clear decision what’s the rematch for?”

Conlan leaves the sport on his own terms, not because of one result, but because he no longer sees the level required to go further.