Jordan Gill reinstated himself as a contender last night in Belfast.
He took the call from Matchroom to be Michael Conlan’s opponent after 14 months out of the ring. Gill was last in action against Kiko Martinez at the end of 2022, losing his European title by a fourth round stoppage. Conlan himself was also looking to get back to winning ways following a devastating fifth round knockout loss to IBF world champion Luis Alberto Lopez this past May.
Gill grabbed glory with both hands with a seventh round stoppage last night in the Northern Irish capital.
“We don’t have champions where I come from, I want to become world champion.” Gill said in the DAZN post fight interview. “After this win, I deserve a shot.
“The plan was to make Mick work, I knew he lacked efficiency. I thought I could hurt him with either hand and I hurt him in every round, and I knew I would. I knocked him down heavy (in round two) and I thought it could have been stopped then. After he got up, I thought I would get him, it was just a matter of time. There were certain times I strayed away from the game plan. Sorry Ben Davison, Lee Whitely and Barry [Smith], but I got there in the end.”
Gill (28-2-1, 9 KOs) had fallen off the radar over the last year. Prior to his loss with Martinez he had claimed the European featherweight title with a ninth round knockout win against Karim Guerfi in London. The 29 year old from Cambridgeshire opened up on a difficult year outside the ring.
“I’ve had a hard year.” Gill explained. “ Not a lot of people know what I have been through this year. After the Kiko loss, I lost touch with myself. I broke up with my wife. On the 30th of June I was in a field, I drank a litre of vodka and I was going to kill myself. Somebody saved me, somebody came and saved me that day. I went to Ben Davison’s gym, I worked with Barry, Barry has put so much effort in with me. My Dad has been by my side, my friends and my family are there supporting me.”
A smile was plastered across Gill’s face as he looked back on a difficult period in his life.
“All my friends, I can’t thank them enough.” Gill continued. “I’ve got my own gym opening next week with my friend Damien. I’ve turned my life around this year in the last four months. And it is just because of that [pointing to his head]. If you are thinking ‘what am I doing with my life?’ You can do it, make a change. Just get up and have that belief in yourself and go and do it, because nobody believed that I could do this, I did, and that’s all that mattered.”
