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

Originally Posted by
soonerboxingfan

Originally Posted by
Lords Gym
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.
The Hilmer Kenty fight was a great competitive fight. Your right that his father ruined his career. It hink his biggest mistake though was going with "Bubblegum" as a nickname
Psalm 144: Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle
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