Michael Conlan has categorically ruled out retirement and insists he will "100 per cent" continue his quest to become world champion.
The 31-year-old has revealed he almost quit boxing in the immediate aftermath of his devastating defeat to Luis Alberto Lopez on May 27.
But after reflecting on the five-round fight and performance against IBF featherweight champion Lopez, Conlan insists: "I'll go again."
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He told ProBoxTV : "A hundred per cent I’ll be back. If it was time to go, I would know and I don’t think it’s time now.
"I’ve had a bit of time to reflect. I think I still have it in me, to be a champion.
"This can only motivate me and push me towards where I need to be more. In a way, it’s probably made me doubt myself more than the Leigh Wood one, because I’m like, ‘What the f*** happened?’. That’s why I need to rebuild correctly and the next fight and the fight after that will be very important.
"I’m not having five fights to get back to where I need to get to. One or two fights and then straight back into the mix… Two fights and then fight for a belt again if I could. Things can work out the right way if they are managed the right way."
Conlan admits he fought the wrong fight against Lopez. He got dragged into an early gunfight with his Mexican opponent and was eventually floored by a clinical uppercut in the fifth round, prompting his coach Adam Booth to toss in the towel.
The Belfast man insists he wasn't 'badly damaged' by the punch, but he accepted Booth's decision to call a halt to the contest because Conlan "wasn't at the races".
Sitting in his changing room after the bout, Conlan says his knee-jerk reaction was to quit boxing for good. But after some consideration and soul-searching he has decided to have another crack at becoming world champion.
"Immediately after I was like, I’m done, finished. I’m not doing this no more," he said.
"I was half retried already. But the more I sat on it, the more I took my time before I made any rash decisions, I’ll go again. I’ll go again.
"I’ve not taken bad damage throughout my career, even throughout preparations from my career I’ve not taken bad damage. I think [trainer] Adam [Booth] throwing in the towel was the right thing to do because he told me the round before, if I don’t go back to what I’m meant to be doing he’s going to stop the fight.
"Then, when I went down, as you see I went down, on my back and then the towel came in, but I actually tried to get up. I actually do get up but the towel was already in. It was a good stoppage.
"I wasn’t there, mentally. I wasn’t in the right mind frame. I don’t know what was wrong. I can’t put my finger on why.
"But I wasn’t there and that wasn’t me in there, who I know I am, using my boxing skills and anything like that. I didn’t perform. I’m not putting any blame on anything or preparation or anything because preparation was fantastic. I was flying. I was ready to go.
"I was really focused. But on the night, when I was in the dressing room and stuff, I started to have doubts creep in, for the first time in my life. I don’t know why.
"I started to doubt myself. I started to feel negative and it just played out in the fight."
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