Jordan Gill was a pretty heavy underdog on the books in Belfast, but the English fighter went on the road and took care of business, stopping Michael Conlan in the seventh round.
Gill (28-2-1, 9 KO) dropped Conlan (18-3, 9 KO) in the second round, and forced referee Howard Foster to step in during a barrage in the seventh, with the fight officially ending at 1:09 of that round.
The 29-year-old Gill and 32-year-old Conlan were both moving up in weight to the 130 lb division here, and Gill was a +600 underdog coming into the bout, but defied the odds and just had too much firepower for the game Conlan.
Conlan absolutely had his moments in the fight, boxing nicely from the outside, landing well to the body at times, and giving Gill enough that the underdog had to stay switched on even with the confidence boost of the early knockdown.
But as much as Conlan did well, he just doesn’t look like he takes shots very well at all at this point, and Gill was the sharper, more accurate puncher, which paid off in the end. Beyond the knockdown, he seemed to sting Conlan repeatedly in the fight.
It’s a huge win for Gill, who will look to turn this into another good fight at 130 in 2024.
“The plan was to make Mick work. I knew that he lacked efficiency. I knew that I could hurt him with either hand, and I hurt him with either hand,” Gill said, adding that he felt the fight could have been stopped in the second on the knockdown.
“I knew Conlan, he’s got so much heart, he’s such a proud man — I knew that he would be dangerous in there, and I had to take my time wearing him down and getting him out.”
For Conlan, this could be the end of the road. He can still fight, but he’s 2-3 in his last five, and all of those losses have come by stoppage, and they were his three best opponents.
Undercard highlights and results
- Lewis Crocker UD-10 Tyrone McKenna (98-92, 100-90, 100-90): A pretty dominant performance from Crocker (18-0, 10 KO), and a brave and gritty one from McKenna (23-4-1, 6 KO) in defeat. Crocker came out with almost an indifference to him, walking McKenna down from the opening bell and throwing power shots. That was most of the fight. McKenna hung in there and never truly folded, but he was also never truly in the fight.
- Caoimhin Agyarko SD-10 Troy Williamson (94-96, 97-93, 98-92): The card for Williamson stinks out loud. A fairly competitive fight, but Agyarko (14-0, 7 KO) clearly deserved the win, and I’d say the cards that went his way were about right. I had it 97-93 for Agyarko, who stepped up capably and beat a former British champ. Williamson (20-2-1, 14 KO) has now lost his last two fights against relevant competition, on Dec. 2 last year and Dec. 2 this year. A date to avoid for him in the future, perhaps.
- Sean McComb UD-10 Sam Maxwell (99-88, 100-87, 100-87): Maxwell got dropped in the third, fifth, and ninth rounds, and just didn’t look to have much to offer at even this level anymore. McComb (18-1, 5 KO) had a good outing, obviously, boxed well and landed with some snap here and there, but if you’ve seen both fight enough, it’s hard to think this wasn’t more Maxwell (17-3, 11 KO) being cooked, or at least as much that.
- Cameron Vuong TKO-4 Michal Dufek (0:34): About what you’d expect of a 21-year-old power promoter prospect against a 40-year-old journeyman. You’ve seen this fight before. It happened again. It will happen more, later, in the future.