When Michael Conlan steps into the ring at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday night, it may be the last time.

Or the first of many more times for the Belfast native, who has made it clear in the lead-up to his bout against Jack Bateson that he will either win and move on, or lose and walk away from the sport that has been a major, all-consuming part of his life for most of his 33 years.

And he’s at peace with that decision. What does worry him a bit is that if he wins and begins another march to a world title, it will keep him away from his family a little while longer.

“I have probably missed around 75 percent of my kids' lives,” said the father of 10- and 7-year-old daughters. “That's unforgivable. That's something that I'm not proud of, but it's not like I've done it for no reason. I've done it for the aim to be a world champion and set my family up. I've done really well for my family, but I believe I can do better and I know I'll do better. I know what I'll do for them, so if I can, I will. If I can't, so be it.”

It’s a heavy topic, the kind you really don’t want to deal with before a big fight, but when I ask Conlan is he happy to be headlining in Ireland, and back for only the second time since back-to-back 2023 losses to Luis Alberto Lopez and Jordan Gill, he admits that, yeah, he is.

“I feel like I'm back to myself,” said Conlan. “I've had some crazy [stuff] happen over the last few years and, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm actually enjoying what I'm doing again.”

What a difference a couple years make. The former WBA interim featherweight champion, Conlan fought Leigh Wood for the regular WBA belt at 126 pounds in March 2022 and was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards when he was stopped in the 12th round of an epic bout. He won two fights when he returned, but after those 2023 defeats, it appeared that his run had come to an end.

If it did, he had nothing to be ashamed about. The two-time Olympian (and 2012 bronze medalist) for Northern Ireland didn’t get the world championship belt he craved, but he engaged in plenty of high-profile fights while becoming an ambassador for Irish boxing along the way. Conlan also took care of his money, started a management company and even has his own beer, Le Gra (which means “with love”).

So why come back to this crazy game? It has everything to do with showing his kids that you do whatever is possible to pursue your dreams. That was taken seriously by his daughter, Luisne.

“They do understand,” Conlan said of his family. “That's the good thing. I have a very supportive partner, and even my kids, my daughter, anytime I've said that's enough, she's like, 'Nope, it's not enough. You have to be a world champion. You promised me you're going to be a world champion.’”

So in March, Conlan laced up the gloves again and beat Asad Asif Khan over eight rounds. Now it’s Bateson and a fight for a vacant WBC regional belt, and after this, hopefully bigger and better fights. It’s the dream of every fighter, that one win can send everything in the right direction. Conlan has had some of those nights, but he’s also been on the other end, letting him know that the sport doesn’t always take care of its own.

“I've always said you can love boxing, but boxing will never love you back,” he said. “It will never love you back. This sport has given people unbelievable lives, but it's also ruined a lot of lives and took a lot of lives. So it's a sport you’ve got to be very careful with. Something I've always been very aware of is that I know that this is not a forever thing, so you’ve got to be quite smart and know when to say goodbye.”

And for him, it’s not time yet.

“I want to be a world champion,” he said. “That is something that sits on me and I know that it's there, but it's just been so close, yet so far.”

Again, it’s a heavy topic, but Conlan takes it on with no hesitation, and he insists that the situation is not as dire as it may appear to those on the outside. He’s still a fighter, still has that fire to compete and get a world title, and still loves the part of the sport that takes place between the ropes in front of a packed house. All while he doesn’t have to. That may make him more dangerous than those who need to fight to put food on the table.

“I would agree 100 percent,” he said. “I've been saying the next time I lose is the time I hang the gloves up. I do not need boxing. I've been very smart, I have properties, I have my own beer, I have loads of different investments and I’ve been very smart. I earned really well in boxing, but didn’t do anything stupid with the money. So I think that is something a lot of people don't do.”

Most don’t, and Conlan is pleased to be one of the unicorns that has.

“It’s not a thing of pressure now,” he continues. “It's just a thing of enjoyment. I'm here to have fun. I'm here to do what I do. If I can look good and win doing it, fantastic. If it's not meant to be, then it's not meant to be. It's just the way it is. But I believe that there's no pressure on this. I'm just going and having fun.”

Winning is a lot more fun than losing, and he knows it. But when you give your all, there can be no regrets. That’s the main lesson here, not just for his kids, but everyone. And though he admits that Michael Jr. would be happy just to have dad around the house all the time, it will be big sister taking it all in.

“My daughter is adamant that, no matter what, she's getting into the ring, and she'll make sure she's wearing her best clothes,” smiled the proud papa, who may not believe that he’s made his all-time mark in Irish boxing history, but that is a belief open to debate.

“It's probably one of the reasons I'm still doing it because I believe I need to have a world title to be included,” Conlan said of his place in the boxing history of his home country. “What I've done in the amateurs and being probably Ireland's most successful male amateur ever is fantastic, but it's not enough because in the pro game I'm not ranked there yet. I haven't got anything of that yet in terms of world titles and stuff. And I don't want to be left behind and thought less of because of this.

“I know my talent, I know my ability, I know what I can do, but I just got to go and do it. That's the thing. And it's important to me because Ireland means a lot to me. It means the world to me. And if I can go and leave my mark and create history in the pro game with the amateur pedigree, as well, I'll feel I've been successful enough to go, OK, happy days. But if not, if it came to it and I didn't achieve a world title, I'm at peace with it and what will be will be.”