TalkingBoxing Articles
O'Connor's Star Continues to Rise, Returns June 27th
TUE June 23, JAMES STILLERMAN - "Irish" Danny O'Connor's amazing boxing odyssey began a mere five years ago in 2004. Only one year after graduating from high school, O'Connor went on absolute tear through the amateur ranks winning the 2008 US National Championship and National Golden Gloves at 141 pounds, as well as being the first alternate to the US Olympic Boxing team. His amateur success carried over to his professional career, where the rising prospect is off to a fast start, and is unbeaten after six fights, including two knockout victories.
O'Connor, the 24 year old southpaw pugilists from Framingham, Massachusetts, uses his five foot, nine inch ripped tattooed frame to dominated all nineteen rounds he has fought in the light welterweight division (140 pounds). His humble and soft spoken manner quickly disappears in the ring, where O'Connor becomes a savaged warrior with glaring brown eyes, shaved head and a fierce fighting mentality. O'Connor displays a relentless, powerful offensive style that smothers his opponents and uses great defense to keep his combatants passive. O'Connor's fighting style has propelled him to victories over opponents: Jose Guerrido, Anthony Woods, Gregorio Jimenez, Jamar Saunders, Charles Wade and Travis Hartman.
“I’m really pleased with my progress so far in my professional career,” said O` Connor. “I train extremely hard for each fight and as my career is progressing I’m learning more and more, gaining valuable fighting experience and becoming better and better with each fight.”
So far O'Connor’s promotional company, Seminole Warriors Boxing out of Florida, has kept him extremely active in the early going as he’s currently preparing for his seventh fight in less than ten months.
“I really appreciate that my promotion company is keeping me busy because I like being active since it’s my job to fight and make money,” said O'Connor. “But more importantly, being active helps me be more focused, knowledgeable and more comfortable in the ring which will only help me out in the future.”
O'Connor enthusiasm for boxing began at an early age when he sat with his grandfather and together they watched one boxing fight after another. Eventually, O'Connor decided to give the sport a try and once he stepped into the boxing gym, he instantly fell in love with the sport, which has since totally consumed his life. He’s always tirelessly working toward perfecting his boxing skills from constantly being at the gym to running, dieting and watching film and so far all his hard work has paid off.
O'Connor enjoyed great boxing success during his amateur career where he obtained an excellent 95-8 record, which came against notable competition including beating 2008 Dominican Republic Gold Medalist, Felix Diaz by a score of 23-3. Adding to his already stacked trophy case is the Most Outstanding Boxer Award for the US Future Stars National Tournament, the 2007 US Olympic trial bronze medal and four New England Golden Gloves Championships. He was also a Division One High School State Wrestling Champion (119 pounds) as a sophomore in his first and only year that he participated in the sport. His amateur career also afforded him the unique opportunity to meet many great friends, travel around the world to China, Russia, and the Dominic Republic and garnered great experience by fighting with many world class pugilists.
The biggest highlight of his amateur career came when after losing an extremely tough contest to Javier Molina in the semifinals trial run of the box-offs 18-10, Danny Garcia got injured and O` Connor became the first alternate boxer for the US Olympic Team.
"Obviously I was extremely disappointed on not making the team, but at the same time it was awesome to travel to China and enjoyed the whole Olympic experience while being with the team which is something that not a lot of people get to do,” said O'Connor. "It's also an honor to be considered one of the best boxers in the country.”
O'Connor decided to move up to the professional ranks after he had accomplished everything he could in the amateur level. He was also ready to move onto bigger and better things such as making money and having the opportunity to fulfill his long time ambition of becoming a world champion just like his favorite boxer, four time division champion, “Sweet Pea” Pernell Whitaker.
“My goal is to become a world champion and nothing is going to stand in my way and prevent me from completing that goal,” said O'Connor. “I got a great team surrounding me with my trainer, Dave Keefe who pushes me to the limit during training sessions at the gym in Rhode Island and Rob Valle who co-manages me along with my trainer. Together with my promoter, Seminole Warriors Boxing, we are going to accomplish big things in the professional ranks.”
O'Connor will take a step closer to accomplishing that goal of a being a world title holder when the devoted boxer puts his undefeated record on the line on June 27th when he steps back in the ring at The Roxy, a nightclub on 279 Tremont Street in Boston. He’ll be taking on 29-year old southpaw, Sebastien Hamel from Quebec, Canada who owns a 10-19-1, 1KO record. This will be a six round bout and will be fought at around the light welterweight limit of 140 pounds. The fight starts at 5 PM and doors open at 3:30 PM. Tickets for the event are $40.00 and $55.00 dollars for ringside and $75.00 dollars for stage ringside.
O'Connor will look to fight a couple more times this year, gradually increase the level of his competition and slowly work his way down to the lightweight division (135 pounds), which he believes is his ideal fighting weight. He has unlimited potential, great work ethic, and a fiery determination to make it big in boxing and he’s certainly headed in the right direction.
"People don’t know me now but they will," said O'Connor.
A special thanks goes out to Bob Trieger for facilitating the interview and to Danny O` Connor for taking the time out of his busy schedule and allow me to interview him. For more information on O` Connor and his upcoming fights check out his website at http://www.dannyoconnorboxing.com.
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