Sean O'Grady-the most padded record in boxing history?

[soonerboxingfan]

I have talked to Sean O'Grady on several occasions ...... I never seen him fight.. nor am I familiar with his record... I can tell you , that you wont find a nicer person , anyone that has met him will tell you that same... Top man !

it was years ago.. I vaguely remember him telling me that he had several surgeries during his career to shave off the edges of his high cheek bones, said the high cheek bones caused him to cut and swell something fierce..

I grew up in OKC and I watched A LOT of Sean O'Grady's fights growing up. There have been some very true and untrue statements made and I would like to put my two cents in. One, he was most certainly one of boxing's great bleeders. I saw him fight some guy on TV whose name escapes me in OKC I believe. I forget how it happened but he got cut over one eye and I have never seen a fighter bleed so much. There was blood from his forehead to his toes. He won but it was pretty gruesome. Two, his father took advantage of him pretty bad. He was not a nice guy in a lot of ways but what can you expect from a boxing promoter? Lastly, yes he got spoonfed quite a few opponents. BUT, realize he started boxing professionally at 15, no doubt with encouragement from the old man who was his promoter. As talented as O'Grady was, (and he was talented) a guy barely into his teens has no business being in the ring with legit contenders. His daddy thought that Sean was good enough to take on Danny Lopez. He figured that Lopez's career was slowing down. Sean went in swinging like he did against those jabronies he fought in OKC and Lopez handed him his a**. Lopez won the featherweight title later that year. Over time, O'Grady would occasionally fight legit fighters. In 1978, when he was 19 I think he fought Eddie Freeman in Las Vegas. Freeman was 21-1 and O'Grady won by TKO in Round 1. A month later he fought Romeo Anaya who was a former Bantamweight champ and won by TKO in 3. A couple of years later he fought undefeated and top contender Gonzalo Montellano and won a split decision. Four short months later he's fighting for the Lightweight championship against Jim Watt and was ahead on points in the 12th when the ref stopped it on cuts because of a Watt headbutt. Since the fight was in Scotland they said it was because of a punch. Scotland being the home of the champion. O'Grady was ahead by 4 points on 2 of the scorecards. Five months later he's fighting Hilmer Kenty for the WBA title. (Watt was the WBC champ.) Kenty was 20-0 and had already defended it 3 times successfully. He was also BTW the first world champ from the Kronk. O'Grady beat him in 15 and it was in no way close. After that it gets weird and can be Googled if you need more info. He did fight Pete Ranzany not too long before he quit and it was the first boxing card Sly Stallone ever promoted. O'Grady fought at welterweight and lost a close decision to a guy who once fought for the Welterweight title and had fought Leonard, McCrory, Benitez, and Cuevas. So to say he was overrated and never beat anybody is a little unfair. He was a legit champ. I think he was handled wrong and got burned out from fighting 10-12 times a year for 8 years. With proper training, promotion, and management(which he wasn't getting from his father) he could've been Lightweight champ for at least a year as long as he stayed away from Arguello.

first of all, get your first cc from me and another cc tomorrow if you are still here.

Nice of you to defend O'Grady. I was planning of doing it but you made a very good point here. Actually, you said it all.

defend what ?? most of his fights were against 0-0 fighters you can't defend anything he fought mostly bums and when he stepped up he always lost one of the most padded records in boxing history.

Padded? Yes. Always lost? The facts say otherwise. All successful boxers records are padded to a certain degree anyway. Pretty Boy Floyd is the best fighter in the world right? One year before he won his 1st title he fought two guys a month apart. Their records? 14-11-3 and 20-18-1. O'Grady's daddy the promoter wanted him to fight in OKC so that's where he fought. He had no choice who or when to fight. Who was he going to complain to? His father? Sean O'Grady was a goldmine for his father and he milked it for all it was worth. His daddy wasn't interested in putting on a competitive fight, he was intersted in putting asses in the seats which put money in his pocket and Pat O'Grady rode his prize horse absolutely into the grave. Sean fought TWO world champions in FIVE months. He beat Kenty and should have beat Watt. When he fought Ganigan it was his 11th fight in two years. He was WORE OUT. You cannot do that to a fighter.