THE LAST CHAPTER?
Mick Conlan is ready to begin another assault on the super-featherweight division this weekend, and, after two distinctly devastating world title defeats, this might well be the last chapter.
If so, Conlan will be hell-bent on making sure it goes to plan.
That plan began when Conlan decided to ring the changes, leaving long-time trainer Adam Booth to link up with veteran Cuban coach Pedro Diaz.
New orders from a new mouth, and a new environment for Conlan too, who spent his toughest weeks of professional camp number 21 in the Magic City of Miami.
A bold play, but one validated by Diaz’s proven track record of rebuilding fighters.
Miguel Cotto’s 2011 revenge over bitter rival Antonio Margarito was masterminded by Diaz in the wake of Cotto’s split with Emmanuel Steward. It was Diaz’s astute training methods that optimised Cotto’s physical attributes, allowing him to box his way to retribution.
Diaz was also involved with the Cuban amateur squad for four Olympic Games and six World Championships, where a 78-strong medal haul featured 20 Olympic golds.
So, a new brain for thinking, but it’s Conlan’s arsenal that has to do the talking.
He is undoubtedly an exceptionally skilled fighter, whose subtle ability to change the tempo can deceive even the beadiest of opponents. Granted, he has never been the most explosive, but he runs a spiteful streak if he can find his rhythm.
However, beyond the boxing ability is a fighter who has been brutalised by two gut-wrenching world title defeats.
The first - to then-WBA champion Leigh Wood - left an arena stunned as they prayed for the wellbeing of a fighter who was all but closing in on his crowning moment just minutes prior.
The second, unlike the first, was on home soil. Yet it was an aggressive road-warrior who shocked and shut the Conlan system with a disdainful performance.
If there aren’t demons in the back of Conlan’s head, then he isn’t a real human.
But this is a man so deeply absorbed in the pursuit of glory that he might just be willing to push himself to a place where us mere mortals couldn’t even imagine venturing to.
His first task comes in the shape of Jordan Gill, who himself has eyes which wander beyond the weekend.
Gill will not lie down, and in expectance of an ever-adoring pro-Conlan crowd, will be driven to stamp his own authority and keep the noise levels below bubbling. It could be a cracker.
Above all for Conlan, it needs to be a fight in which his hand is raised. If not, it will more than likely be the final page of his last chapter, and the most underwhelming of endings.
Oscar Bevis