Michael Conlan Plumps For Grant Smith As New Trainer

Conlan eyes a potential return to featherweight as he tries to achieve his goal

Conlan is confident Grant Smith is the right coach to help him with his career /

By Ian Omoro

Former featherweight title challenger Michael Conlan considered a few choices before deciding on Grant Smith as his new trainer. Among the choices were Stephen Smith and Buddy McGirt.

In a recent interview, Conlan said, “I appreciate the time I’ve had with all the guys I’ve worked with. It’s been great, but I believe Grant’s the next step for me. He’s the right one to help my career and the right coach for me at the right time. I just like how he operates. It was a very, very hard decision.”

One of the most important things, in Conlan's opinion, is how many other prominent boxers work with Grant Smith; this is a significant distinction from both Stephen Smith and Conlan's former trainer, Pedro Diaz.

“I chose Grant because of the quality fighters he had around. Stephen only has a few fighters, Charlie Edwards being the main one,” Conlan said. “Pedro’s probably one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with. I’m very grateful to have been under him for a while. I was basically training by myself a lot of the time. It was alright when we were doing it, but in hindsight, it probably wasn’t what I needed. I chose Grant because he has so many high-quality fighters there [who] you can push yourself against in the gym and try to excel.”

Former undisputed 140-pound champion Chantelle Cameron, former flyweight champion Sunny Edwards, Grant's son Dalton Smith, and junior middleweight prospect Junaid Boston are some of the boxers that train under Grant Smith at the Steel City Gym in Sheffield.

After winning bronze in the flyweight division at the 2012 Olympics, Conlan returned to compete in the bantamweight division in 2016, where he was controversially defeated by Vladimir Nikitin in the quarterfinals.

“I want to come back and have one [fight] to get back in with a new coach, then we move forward, maybe another kind of middle-level one, and then we go straight back to the top,” he said.

“My career’s a long story. It’s been a very great career—an up-and-down career. I’ve earned an awful lot of money. And my coming back now isn’t about money. It’s about trying to reach the goal.” Conlan concluded.