Boxing
Conlan announces retirement after split decision defeat to Walsh
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Michael Conlan has confirmed his retirement from professional boxing after he fell to a split decision loss against Kevin Walsh in Belfast.
The home favourite had arrived at the SSE Arena on Friday night hoping a victory could book a third featherweight world title challenge.
But in a cagey contest that never quite erupted into explosive life, his opponent instead preserved his own perfect record to signal time.
Walsh took a 96-94 96-94 93-97Â call from the judges, a result that moves him to 20-0 and further bolsters his place in the world rankings.
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Post-bout, pundits and promoters aired their frustration at the decision, but Conlan himself was more sanguine as he stuck to his words.
"I said that the next defeat, no matter the circumstances, would be me finished with boxing and it has come," he was quoted by BBC Sport.
"I didn't think I lost, but I wasn't good enough and that's just a fact. I need to be beating guys like that. That was too close for comfort.
"I'm 34 now, too long in the tooth, I thought I won but it is what it is. I don't want to do it anymore so it's time to say goodbye to boxing."
Conlan calls time after frustrating finale
DAZN News correspondent Andrew Steel
So comes the end for Michael Conlan - not with a grandstanding bang, but a growl of frustration after a night in Belfast that went both ways.
Post-fight stats suggest the star landed better and cleaner than Kevin Walsh, but a few heavy cuts to his face may have swung opinion.
Either way, it is a body blow that brings down the curtain on his career, even as his team rallied around him at the SSE Arena afterwards.
Thirty-four is not always the end of the road in boxing, but for a man of Conlan's amateur pedigree, he knows what this does to the body.
If the chance of one final title bid has slipped through his fingers now, then there is no shame in taking a well-earned retiremenent now.
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