UPDATED ARTICLE: Wayne McCullough’s dismay at Michael Conlan’s ‘IRA song’

Wayne McCullough was commenting after Conlan made his ring entrance at Madison Square Garden to the Wolfe Tones’ Celtic Symphony – while a large section of the crowd sang ‘Ooh ah, up the Ra’ during the chorus.

McCullough, who grew up in the loyalist Shankill area of Belfast before leaving for the US, is an outspoken critic of those who bring politics into the sporting arena.

Now living in Las Vegas, the former WBC bantamweight champion outraged many in his home community when he carried his team’s Irish tricolour at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Following Conlan’s St Patrick’s Day victory over Ruben Garcia Hernandez, McCullough posted a number of messages on Twitter criticising the song choice.

Responding to one boxing fan who branded the scenes “absolutely disgusting,” McCullough said: “It’s unfortunate that he has to bring politics into it.”

The same fan also tweeted: “It shouldn’t be about Protestant or Catholic it should be about everyone uniting to support a Belfast fighter.”

McCullough replied: “You’d think! I’m a fan of his too but come on. Times are supposed to have changed. It’s things like that that set us back.”

Another boxing fan said: “He’ll never get the same kind of support [Carl] Frampton gets due to stuff like this. People from one side of the community won’t want to go sit through fans singing like that at the Odyssey for example.”

Belfast city councillor Guy Spence was one of those expressing disbelief at the television coverage.

“For the first time in my life I turned the boxing off before it began,” he tweeted.

“I can’t believe what I heard as Wolfe Tones’ ‘Ooh ah Up the RA’ was played & chanted...this is something I can never EVER support,” he added.

McCullough replied by saying: “Agreed!”

Another McCullough tweet read: “It was sad to see but he should use his talent to gain fans not his walk out song to lose them!”

Speaking to the News Letter on Thursday, he elaborated on his thoughts about the incident.

“It’s unfortunate that in a sport where so many like me and others before and after me have done so much to bring our communities together that some still choose to associate themselves with emblems, colours, music and flags which can so easily cause divide, offence and upset,” he said.

“Personally I believe that politics and religion have no place in the boxing ring and our local fighters have a great opportunity to use their talents to gain fans throughout the country rather than alienating them by politicising the sport,” McCullough added.

Former IBF flyweight world champion Dave ‘Boy’ McAuley said the decision had alienated boxing fans, but suggested the song may not have been personally chosen by Conlan.

“I remember when I was fighting years back and I came out to the sound of ‘Eye of the Tiger,’” he told the BBC’s Nolan Show.

“I had no input into that, it was all done behind the scenes by the people who looked after me,” he added.