Michael Conlan walks through the London offices of his new promoter, Wasserman Boxing, and pulls up a chair. 

He looks around and smiles: “A new beginning, mate. A new beginning. Although, at the same time, this is the last role of the dice.”

This is Conlan’s last run at glory and at the world title he covets.

Training with Grant Smith in Sheffield, he has a new team, new focus, and a myopic look on what he wants from the sport.

It is all about winning a crown he was all but anointed with when he turned over with Top Rank after competing at his second Olympic Games, Rio 2016.

He has come close to fulfilling his destiny, but he’s been unable to cross the line. More on that later.

For now, there is a sense of enthusiasm when he talks about what he still wants to do, with a hidden admission that he is about to play his final hand.

That is why it has taken time to get to where he presently finds himself. 

He wanted a new set-up, to feel comfortable. He’d also worked with Buddy McGirt and Stephen Smith before opting to work with Steel City’s Smith in Sheffield, England. And he wanted to come back a little further under the radar, so he can bed in with the new team.

That is why he boxes in an eight-rounder in Brighton on Friday night. It is a soft launch, as he starts looking for momentum to fire him towards a title shot.

“It’s great to be here,” Conlan adds. “I think Wasserman is the right move at the right stage of my career. The plans which have been laid out, the homecoming and stuff like that, that all plays into what I want to do and to get back towards the world title.”

The plan is four fights in 12 months, to keep active, with the level of opponent gradually increasing each time.

It will be a lonely year. Conlan spends much of his time in Sheffield, away from his family – who are back in Belfast, Northern Ireland – and, when he’s not in the gym, he’s alone, toiling on Call of Duty, online with friends. He has, at least, got Grant and his son – 140lbs contender Dalton Smith – into playing golf.

“I don’t see much of Sheffield,” he grins.

“If you say, ‘It’s in this street or on this road’, I wouldn’t know anything because all I do is drive to the gym, drive back to the house, drive to the gym, drive back to the house.” 

Boxing is life, but Conlan has always lived it. He’s always been focused and dedicated.

“Grant, he’s fantastic – a real man’s man,” the Irish star adds. “And a real coach about the fighter. You know, someone who I like personally, but also who’s pulled me up on mistakes, which I know I make.” 

Conlan has hit the reset button, and he knows all of his previous achievements and work might be judged by how the 33 year old concludes his career.

“Because I could easily retire,” Conlan explains. “I’m not struggling or I’m not in need of anything. I’m not fighting for money here. I’m fighting to be a world champion. That’s my aim, that’s my goal. When I set something out, I always like to finish it. I’m aiming towards that. Now, if I came up short this time, that would be it. I would say, ‘No, that’s enough.’ But I don’t want to get to 40 in seven years and go, ‘Maybe I should have went; maybe I should have went again’. I don’t want to have that ‘What if’.”

Conlan has plotted his ideal exit path. He insists he will not be rushed or make any false moves. He has the name value to still land significant fights, and his ability to draw a big crowd has not diminished. But he is boxing now on his own terms.

“If a title opportunity comes up next, or a massive opportunity comes up next, I probably wouldn’t be ready to win it,” he admits. “I could be ready to fight in it and compete in it, but to win it? I probably wouldn’t be ready. So, I need to make sure that in this last stage of my career that everything is done correctly and everything is done at the right time. And that’s my aim – to make sure that I’m now managing my own career. I’ve got to focus on me and do things the way I believe is right and take the right fights at the right time.”

It helps that Conlan knows boxing, and it also helps that he doesn’t let his ego run away from him. He’s grounded. And he knows he’s been humbled in defeat. The sun has not always shone on him, and he holds his hands up for some of the errors made along the way. It’s been nothing if not an education.

“There are some missteps,” he offers in a frank career reflection. “There’s definitely some missteps. There have been a few things, if you could go back and change them you would change them. But you can’t. You’ve just got to live through them and move forward, I suppose… Wrong fights at the wrong time. Even if I look back at the last one [Jordan Gill], that was announced eight weeks out. I had six weeks of training. I knew it wasn’t the [right] fight before the fight was even announced. New coach [in Pedro Diaz]; everything; change of scenery; coming off a loss. I just knew that wasn’t the right one. And where I was at mentally with everything going on in my life, I knew it wasn't the right fight at the right time. I just went with it. There’s other things going on in different fights. You’re going, ‘This should have been done, that should have been done.’ But they weren’t, so you’ve just got to live with those things.”

It might be tough to deal with now, but it won’t be if he ends the story how he wants to – on his terms and having raised a world title above his head. But Conlan is a realist and honest. There is no changing what’s gone, and his pragmatic approach to the future has been shaped by his experiences. 

“It’s history,” he shrugs. “It’s the way the journey is meant to go. I believe your life is ruled out before you’ve even lived it. And these things are meant to happen the way they’re meant to happen. And now I’m in this position, so I can’t sit and dwell on things. The past is the past. The only thing I can change is the future. I can’t change the present or the past. I can change the future.”

Things have certainly flipped for Conlan. There is now less pressure and less expectation. He confesses that the anticipation he felt turning pro was stifling. He was being trained by Manny Robles, promoted by Top Rank, and made his pro debut on St Patrick’s Day in The Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York.

Of the expectation on his shoulders, he recalls with a deep breath: “Oh, massive. Massive.”

Then, he goes on: “I remember when I made my debut, the backlash I got off – the debut. I’m going, ‘Holy God’. I mean, my first year of professional boxing made me dislike boxing. Because I had so much expectation in my head and everyone was expecting me, because I was so much of an elite amateur, people were expecting me to transition to the pros and do the same kind of things. Everything had to be flawless, but I had completed the amateur game and then I was trying to change style, to like a Mexican style, training with Manny Robles. It wasn't my style in fairness. But at the same time, I was learning on the job the whole time.”

But it was a fruitful first 12 months and he finished it 6-0. 

He is 18-3 (9 KOs), and while he is not full of regrets, he has not achieved what he had hoped to. 

“I’ve achieved a lot,” he says. “A few big stages… I’ve fought in some of the biggest events in the world and I’ve been involved in some unbelievable events. I’ve done well in terms of career-wise, and won an IBO, WBO, WBA interim world title. So, like, I’ve achieved some sort of belt. But I’d probably say that, from my own expectations – forget everybody else – that I’ve underachieved, and that’s being honest. So far, as a pro, if I didn’t win a world title, I’d feel underachieved.” 

Conlan has been stopped in his three losses, firstly in the dying embers in a thrilling fight of the year with Leigh Wood, in 2022, and then in consecutive bouts by Gill and Lopez. While he knew he wasn’t right ahead of the Gill fight, he also had a “sinking feeling” about outside-the-ring issues heading into the Lopez fight.

Critics, however, contend it is Conlan’s punch resistance that has gone – although the Irishman retains belief in his ability to hold a shot.

“I went in that last fight [Gill] with a slightly perforated eardrum,” he says. “First round, I got hit bang on the ear, and my balance was just gone completely. It’s not resistance. It’s your ear; your balance is gone. I’m not worried about that, really. You know, people can say it. Listen, I could say it myself. I’m not worried. Probably subconsciously, somewhere you are. But I’ve taken shots, big shots, sparring and stuff. You get hit and you go, ‘Okay, listen, that was a big shot’. I remember last year, before that fight, actually, I was sparring some Cuban in Miami – 64kg, light welterweight. He hit me a shot, and I watched it back in the video, I should have been out cold, because that was a fucking huge shot. But it was like, bang, straight back to it. It wasn’t anything. It’s not something I’m bothered about. But obviously something you’ve got to keep an eye on.”

And as he moves forward and into Friday’s fight with Asad Asif Khan, who brings with him from India a 19-5-1 (5 KOs) record, Conlan is not fixating on one fight or one champion. He simply wants to get into a position to challenge one of the beltholders. There’s talk about Josh Warrington later in 2025, too.

He, regardless, has always wanted the rematch with Wood, and that remains his most significant target of all, even though the Nottingham man has since moved up in weight. He would also be open to moving up to take on Liverpool’s Nick Ball, and would like a homecoming in Belfast, before he signs off.

He believes he can outbox some of the best fighters in the division – he just needs 36 perfect minutes and he can retire a contented man.

A new beginning, yes. A last roll of the dice, definitely.