Michael Conlan has banished the demons of his Olympic past with a hard-fought unanimous decision win over Vladimir Nikitin.
Despite what the lopsided judges scorecards said, the Belfast native, 29, was given arguably the toughest test of his professional career against Nikitin in a rematch of their controversial Rio 2016 bout, which the Russian won via a contentious decision to end Conlan's hopes of another Olympic medal.
The stars were out in force to watch the fight, which was headlined by Terence Crawford's WBO welterweight title defence agaist Egidijus Kavaliauskas, with 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan and actress Rosie Perez among the onlookers for the contest.
The opening rounds were impressive from Nikitin, with the Irishman struggling early to land as cleanly as he did in their amateur days.
But he found his rhythm in the third, and the Russian even ended up on the deck only for it to be declared a slip by the referee.
However, it wasn't plain sailing from there, with the fourth, sixth and seventh rounds tough to call either way.
Conlan began to really show his dominance in the eighth, landing multiple clean shots before edging the ninth and taking it home in the tenth for what ended up being a comfortable victory.
Speaking after the bout, Conlan admittd that he and Nikitin had called a truce, saying: "I'm done with 2016.
"It's in the past, let's just move on because Vladimir Nikitin is a good guy and I tried to get mean with him but I said after to him 'there's no bad blood and there never has been.
"I like the guy and I've always liked him even in the amateurs, thank God this is put to bed and I've got this monkey off my back."
Now, Conlan is expected to move on to bigger and better things, with brother and manager Jamie confirming that he will return to New York for St Patrick's Day before fighting at the Feile 2020 in Belfast.
"We're working on upping the capacity in Belfast for next year," Jamie Conlan revealed. "Belfast is in our contract once a year.
"The Garden (Madison Square Garden in New York) want us in once a year, they're looking to build it so in a few years Mick is headlining the big arena."
Top Rank boss Bob Arum remained coy on who Conlan's next opponent may be, but did confirm two Irish cards for next year; one to feature Carl Frampton headlining Belfast's SSE Arena and the next to feature a top spot for Conlan in Falls Park.
Unfortunately, it wasn't all good news for the Irish in New York, as Cork's Noel Murphy slumped to defeat against Josue Vargas in a bout for the vacant IBF North American Super Lightweight title.
Murphy, backed by unrelenting chants all the way through from the green army in attendance at 'the World's Most Famous Arena', wasn't able to keep up with hometown boy Vargas, losing a unanimous decision 98-92 across the board.
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