Michael Conlan showed off his punching power and body punching tonight in defeating Tim Ibarra (4-5, 1 KOs) by a technical knockout in round 3 in front of a large crowd of 5,102 boxing fans at Madison Square Garden in New York. Conlan, 25, hurt Ibarra was a nice shot in round 3, and he then hit him with everything in the kitchen sink until referee Benjy Esteves Jr. called a halt to the fight.
Ibarra was still standing at the time of the stoppage. Ibarra wouldn’t have made it out of the round if not for the referee stopping the fight when he did. There was too much time remaining in the round, and Conlan was showing no signs of letting up with his blizzard of punches he was throwing.
Conlan was nervous in the 1st round, as he missed repeatedly with his power shots. The only thing he could land with any degree of accuracy was his jab.
In the 2nd round, Conlan started to throw a lot of body shots. He couldn’t miss with his body shots, and the punches seemed to wear Ibarra down quickly.
This was the two-time Irish Olympian Conlan’s pro debut at super bantamweight. Conlan competed in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics for Ireland. The Conlan-Ibarra fight was scheduled for 6 rounds, but it never had a chance of making that far because Conlan was teeing off on Ibarra from the minute the fight started. Conlan’s body punching was extraordinary. He was attacking Ibarra with body shots all night long, and he did an effective job of wearing him down to the point where he had little to offer in return from the many punches Conlan was hitting him with.
The large crowd that turned out to see Conlan fight in debut was very nice. He’s from Belfast, Northern Ireland. It’s great news that Conlan is already bringing in large crowds in just his first fight as a pro in fighting in the U.S rather than in his home country in Belfast.
Other boxing results:
Alex Saucedo TKO 2 Johnny Garcia
Jose Gonzalez UD 6 Jhovany Collado
Robson Conceicao TKO 2 Aaron Hollis
Teofimo Lopez KO 2 Daniel Bastien
Alexander Picot UD 4 Bengar Garcia
Larry Gleeson UD 4 Gabriel Solario