The featherweight bout never caught fire and 34-year-old Conlan's decision to retire seemed to be inspired as much by his own performance as the close, debatable decision.

Moments before Conlan confirmed his intention to walk away without ever accomplishing his goal of winning a professional world title, his promoter, Kalle Sauerland, told DAZN that he was absolutely baffled by the judges decision.

“It’s times like this when you promote an event and don't really know what to say,” Sauerland said.

“I’m embarrassed for the sport of boxing, I got in the ring and Mick said to me how many rounds you reckon [he won], I said, “I don't know, I didn't even count after six or seven”.

“He [Conlan] gave up the first two, if you give Walsh a round or two in the rest of the fight then I'm already being generous. It wasn’t one I was even scoring. It was a cagey fight but it was just incredible. It baffles me what on earth they're watching. Also, the swing of it between one guy and the other ones [the scores were 94-96, 94-96 and 97-93]. I’m lost for words.”

Over the past year, Conlan has made no secret of the fact that whilst his time in the sport was drawing to a close, he was determined to secure a third and final world title shot before calling time on his career.

Having previously come up short in featherweight world title fights with Leigh Wood and Luis Alberto Lopez, he and Sauerland had started to mention a potential autumn fight with WBC 126-pound champion, Bruce “Shu-Shu” Carrington, but the longer the fight with Walsh dragged on, the more far-fetched those plans began to look.

Given Conlan’s profile and New York fanbase, the fight may well have remained an attractive proposition for Carrington but the judges’ decision brought Conlan’s hopes to a screeching halt.

“It's embarrassing. Conlan’s gone through a camp, he’s preparing for a world title shot and you get two blind people scoring a fight. That’s all you can say. Sometimes they are the gift that keeps on giving,” Sauerland added.

“It’s incredible because boxing isn't a tennis match, we're not going back tomorrow to replay it, we have a rematch option but to be quite frank, I don't want to see that again, it was a clear decision.”