After what must have felt as a tumultuous last few months of 2019, Charles Conwell is looking ahead to the future and what it could bring to his career.
Back in October, Conwell fought Patrick Day on a DAZN card in Chicago. However, that fight will forever be remembered for the tragic ending, which saw Day die days later due to injuries sustained in the ring. Still, Conwell was able to move past that tragedy and even returned to the ring in February, scoring a fourth-round TKO win over Ramses Agaton in Indiana.
Conwell appeared on the Fightful Boxing Podcast and discussed what it felt like stepping to the ring for the first time since that tragic fight against Day. Conwell didn't want to dwell much on that past fight and said his goal was to perform as well as he usually does, wanting to move forward.
“To be honest, my goal was just to go out there and perform how I usually performed before, even better to be honest. All I can do is get better and better," Conwell said.
But disregarding the tragic events of that fight last fall, Conwell was able to open a lot of people's eyes with his power and ability to take punches from a veteran fighter. Conwell believes that more and more are starting to notice his potential.
“I definitely think a lot more people have noticed me. Not as much as I want, but I definitely think I got a couple of more eyes on me. Now, I just have to keep doing my thing and keep winning convincingly, dominating. More people will come out and see me when I keep fighting and doing my thing," Conwell said.
Although he might not be sniffing the world title picture anytime soon, Conwell has already started appearing on the IBF's top 15 rankings at junior middleweight. The current IBF champion is Jeison Rosario, who also holds the WBA world title. The division is stacked with top fighters such as Rosario, Jermell Charlo, Patrick Teixeira, Jarrett Hurd, Julian Williams, Tony Harrison and more.
While Charlo gets Conwell's pick as the top fighter in the division, one champion who Conwell believes he can take on right now is Rosario. Conwell calls Rosario the biggest fish in the large pond that is the junior middleweight division by virtue of him holding two of the four major sanctioning body championship and the one champion Conwell believes he can beat, even right now.
“Probably Jeison Rosario. He’s got the most belts so he’s the biggest fish right now. I’d like to fight Jeison Rosario. I’d fight Patrick Teixeira too and I like Charlo a lot too… I definitely think I’d be ready for that fight [against Rosario] sooner than what people may think. In fact, I think I can take on Jeison Rosario, even now. My time will come soon and I will show everyone what I can do," Conwell said.
Of course, any talk of a potential title fight, or any fight for that matter, won't go far due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Conwell, who told Fightful he is expected to return to the ring sometime in the coming months although the fight has yet to be made, says it's about time that boxing starts returning. The unbeaten 22-year-old does hope cautionary measures are implemented for any boxing shows that are being planned out, but doesn't like some ideas being thrown around, such as judges scoring fights in remote locations to limit the amount of people at ringside.
“I think it’s about time we can start thinking about boxing returning. I think starting out without the crowd is the best solution. As far as the judges are concerned, I’m going to be real honest. I like it when the judges are there at the fights at ringside and seeing it up close," Conwell said.
You can check out Conwell's interview with Fightful in the video at the top of the page.
