Despite being on the wrong end of a brutal Leigh Wood knockout in March, Michael Conlan is hoping the loss will not affect his quest for world title glory.
Conlan returns to the ring tonight when he takes on the experienced Miguel Marriaga in Belfast and when speaking to Boxing Scene, the 30-year-old revealed he would rather be active instead of partaking in a long recovery.
"A lot of fighters would take a lot of time out and say they need to recover,” Conlan said.
“I need to stay active. A loss is not going to define me, I won’t let it. The worst thing I could do is sit and wait.
"People soon forget. I’m in a good position still. What happened was one punch changed the fight. I know for me to get back in that position I need to have a good fight, a hard fight and a credible opponent.
“I’m in this to make as much money as I can and win as many belts as I can.”
Fans were concerned about Conlan's wellbeing following his loss to Wood after tumbling out of the ring, but the former Olympian insisted that it was only his ego which was affected following that noisy night in Nottingham.
"People thought I was dead, there was such a big show made about it,” Conlan added.
“But I was awake on the ground.
“It’s boxing, people get knocked out. That was the first time in my life I have ever been knocked out. The most hurt thing was my ego.
"Going out for the twelfth round. I was f—d.
“I was so tired because I had expended so much energy in the eleventh beating the life out of Leigh.
“[In the eleventh] I slipped, but he landed a punch and they had to count it as a knockdown and that gave him a second wind, because he was f----- too. And then we came out for the twelfth and he had that confidence going through him. He got the job done, so credit to him.”