Vladimir Nikitin is out as Michael Conlan's next opponent.
The Russian prospect suffered torn bicep this week and is no longer able to fight Conlan on August 3 at Falls Part in Northern, Ireland. The fight would have been the main event of an MTK Global card that was going to be streamed on ESPN+ in the United States.
Although Nikitin is out, the card will move forward and Conlan will face another opponent. No names have been mentioned as potential candidates, but Conlan's brother Jamie, who also is the Professional Development Coordinator for MTK Global, said Conlan will face a much tougher opponent.
“These things happen in boxing and we’ll now be looking to bring in an opponent that’ll be a harder fight than Nikitin would have been," Jamie said.
A fight against Nikitin had been something Michael had asked for a long time due to their infamous fight in the 2016 Olympics that saw Nikitin win with a highly controversial decision. Since then, both men would go on to turn pro with Nikitin last fighting on St. Patrick's Day on the same card as Michael fought that served as a way to build towards a fight between the two.
Despite both fighters' impressive amateur pedigrees, the Irishman has much more pro experience than Nikitin. Michael is 11-0 as a pro and is already ranked in the top 15 by the WBA, WBO and IBF while Nikitin is only 3-0 and made his debut in the paid ranks in July 2018.
The rest of the card will see the likes of former world title challenger Paddy Barnes, Sean McComb, Alfredo Meli and others in action on separate bouts.
