Michael Conlan crushes Jack Bateson in Dublin to claim WBC International featherweight title

A ruthless finish in Dublin

The sound inside Dublin’s 3Arena told the story before the referee did. One counter right hand, perfectly timed, and Jack Bateson’s legs vanished. The Leeds man tried to steady himself, but his ankles betrayed him as he fell into the ropes. Referee Hugh Russell Jr. took one look, counted, and waved it off in round four. In front of more than 5,000 fans, Michael Conlan wasn’t just victorious—he was definitive.

This was Conlan’s first professional fight in the Republic of Ireland, and he made it feel like a coronation. He walked out carrying the pressure of recent memory: stoppage defeats to Leigh Wood, Luis Alberto Lopez, and Jordan Gill had shrunk the room around him over the past three years. At 33, this was billed as a career checkpoint. He cleared it with a crushing finish and left with the vacant WBC International featherweight title, plus a reminder of the savvy that once made him one of the sport’s can’t-miss prospects.

Early on, Bateson tried to keep things neat and technical. He circled, jabbed, and looked to draw Conlan onto counters. Conlan didn’t chase. He posted with the lead hand, stabbed to the body, and slowly walked Bateson into bad geography. The jab—not a throwaway, but a rangefinder with bite—started to set the table.

The first real crack in Bateson’s shape came in round three. Conlan found a short left hand—compact, almost casual—that clipped Bateson and dumped him on the canvas. It wasn’t a haymaker; it was timing. Bateson got up fine, nodded as if to say he was okay, and boxed to the bell. But the gap was showing.

In the fourth, Bateson tried to regain territory. He stepped in, pivoted, and circled to his left—straight into Conlan’s right hand lane. Conlan didn’t overreach. He caught Bateson coming in with a counter right over the top that landed flush. Bateson’s legs went loose instantly. He tumbled into the ropes, his ankle twisting as he sank, and though he beat the count, his balance never returned. The stoppage was swift and humane.

Conlan roared “I’m back!” from his trainer’s shoulders as the arena kept singing. The belt matters—WBC International straps bring rankings and leverage—but the manner of victory mattered more. After tough nights against Wood, Lopez, and Gill, this was the controlled violence of a veteran who remembered exactly who he is.

Technically, the finish was a case study in ringcraft. Conlan won the lead-hand battle first, which forced Bateson to take more risk to get his own offense off. The jab sapped Bateson’s rhythm, and the body work made him reset his feet. When Bateson shifted to the inside line without head movement, Conlan’s counter path was wide open. There was no wind-up—just timing, weight transfer, and a punch he didn’t see.

The arena played its part. Channel 5’s broadcast leaned into the atmosphere as the crowd turned every feint into a wave and every exchange into a chorus. Conlan noted afterward that the event could have been a sellout with stronger promotion—he said he had around 2,000 extra ticket requests in fight week alone. Judging by the noise that lingered long after the stoppage, he wasn’t bluffing.

The undercard kept the night moving for the home crowd. Glenn Byrne edged Charly Lopez on points, 58–56, a tidy win that set the tone for the main event’s surge. Irish boxing nights in Dublin don’t need much help to feel like an occasion, but Conlan’s return gave this one a purpose: prove the old skills still bite.

What this win means—and what’s next

This wasn’t just catharsis. It was a pivot. The WBC International title puts Conlan back into meaningful traffic at featherweight, and it does it with a few cards in his pocket. He’s now 20–3 (10 KOs), and the belt typically nudges a fighter into the WBC’s top rankings. That means options: a European-level step, a top-15 gatekeeper, or a fast track toward a mandated eliminator if momentum holds.

Conlan’s team will like the blend of patience and venom he showed. He didn’t chase knockouts against a tidy boxer; he forced errors with craft, then punished them. That’s the version who can map a route back toward world level. The one caution? Mileage. Conlan has taken heavy shots in big moments. Activity choices over the next 6–12 months will matter more than the belt on his shoulder.

Here’s what a sensible road map could look like:

• Stay busy: one more fight before year’s end, ideally back at 3Arena to capitalize on the momentum and local demand.
• Style calibration: target an opponent with a higher punch volume than Bateson to test sustained defensive focus and late-round composure.
• Ranking pressure: aim for a top-15 WBC opponent to solidify the belt’s value and push toward an eliminator in 2026.

There’s also the geography of it all. Conlan said he’d wanted this Dublin night for a decade. He’s now headlined both sides of the border, closing the loop on an Irish journey that began with Olympic glory and detoured through heartbreak. Nights like this suggest more big gates in the capital. If the promotion matches the demand, don’t be shocked to see a packed 3Arena next time out.

As for Bateson, 30 and now 20–2–1 (6 KOs), this was a hard lesson but not a dead end. He boxed tidily until the floor fell out. The rebuilding path is clear: rest, make sure the ankle’s right, and return against a sturdy opponent who’ll give him rounds without the same pop. If he keeps the fundamentals and adds more disguise on entries, he remains a problem for plenty of European-level featherweights.

The stoppage itself will draw little debate. The legs tell the truth, and they told it quickly. Referees exist for those split-second judgments, and this one protected a fighter who was brave but unstable after a violent shot. Bateson wanted to fight on—fighters always do—but the call was good.

Irish boxing doesn’t lack nights like these, but it’s rare to get the story so clean: a star under pressure, a first pro outing in Dublin, a raucous crowd, and a finish that echoes. Conlan needed a performance that shut down the questions. He found it with a jab, a short left, and one right hand that brought the roof down.