Michael Conlan will take some time to decide "what the next steps are" for his career after being knocked out by Luis Alberto Lopez.
Conlan, 31, was stopped in his featherweight world title fight against Lopez at the SSE Arena in Belfast on Saturday night. 10,000 fans packed into the arena to watch Conlan in his second effort at a world title and the Olympic bronze medalist was faring well in the fight, but was ultimately dropped and stopped when Lopez connected with a huge uppercut in the fifth round.
It marks Conlan's second knockout loss in his past four fights and the Irishman has now released a statement after his defeat that read: "Congratulations to Lopez on a great performance. I wish you all the best in the future champion. Thank you for the opportunity. Thanks to everyone who reached out and wished me luck, I can’t get back to you all but I appreciate it.
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"I’m gonna take some time away from social media now to enjoy my family and decide what the next steps for me are. Again thank you Belfast for an amazing atmosphere and turn out tonight! Love MC." Conlan came up short in his first world title fight last March when he was stopped in the final round by Leigh Wood after being just minutes away from winning the WBA belt.
Lopez's manager has since warned Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn that Wood is "next" for the Mexican, who is now unbeaten in his past 10 fights with eight of those wins coming by knockout. Wood reclaimed his featherweight title on Saturday night as he won a one-sided decision against Mauricio Lara, who was stripped of his belt after missing weight.
"Please go and tell him that he is next," Magana told Mirror Fighting immediately after the Conlan bout. "Of course, let's make it happen - I'm planning to buy a house in the UK. We're about to call Eddie Hearn and tell him 'if the money's right we'll come to London and we'll fight Leigh Wood'. It will be a full house!
"We would like to thank Belfast, the city had been really good to us since the start of fight week when we arrived to the hotel. Jamie Conlan, Michael Conlan, their whole team they were really, really nice to us and we were really excited, we love coming to the UK, we feel at home."
