Michael Conlan Gets Revenge, Decisions Vladimir Nikitin
It only took three years for Michael Conlan to extract revenge against his amateur rival Vladimir Nikitin. At the 2016 summer Olympics, the two men met in the bantamweight quarterfinal. There, Conlan would be on the wrong end of an obvious bad decision.
Conlan, the overall better fighter, displayed his versatility and boxing ability as he controlled majority of the first seven rounds of the fight. He would switch from southpaw to orthodox, jabbing his shorter adversary to keep him at bay.
As the fight continued, Conlan would start to land some punishing shots on Nikitin. In particular, some hard right hooks to the body and uppercuts.
However, Nikitin would finish the last three rounds very strong! The two men would stand and trade big blows, with Nikitin landing some terrific shots. The pressure finally started to play in his favor. Although, it was too little too late.
At the end, Michael Conlan would be announced as the victor by way of a unanimous decision. The scores read 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.
Conlan improved his record to 13-0, 7 KOs, while Vladimir Nikitin’s record would drop to 3-1. A title shot could be in the near future for Michael Conlan in 2020.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
