Sean O' Grady Discussion

Thanks, Vic:good!

 

How was Lopez, coming off a knockout of Ruben Olivares who had just lost his title by split decision in his previous outing, considered shot? Lopez was on his way up and was less than a year short of winning the featherweight title.

Sean was tough but a bleeder, very good body puncher. He turned pro when he was like 15 and fought at fairs and whatnot with his father promoting and putting him in with tomato cans and often people off the street to build up a record of like 70-1 before he lost to Watt on a head-cut cut stoppage.

He fought like a demon against Hilmer Kenty to win the title and then his crazy father made him drop the belt so he could be the WAA (World Athletic Association) champ -- and he promptly lost to Andy Gannigan in two. I think his head was pretty messed up by his father's shenanigans.

O'Grady wasn't an ATG, but he was a legit fighter.

 

A lot better than most posters in this forum will give him credit for being.

 

The Bubblegum Kid gets a bad rap.

Sean was a pretty good fighter, but most of all he was entertaining.

Papa O'Grady did both a 'good job' and 'bad job' of managing him.

People forget he was 'scheduled' to fight Spain's Ceclio Lastra for the
WBA Featherweight Title, but the WBA pulled the plug on that.

Sean would have defeated Ceclio in Oklahoma City where it was set to
take place in February 1978, and a different course would have surely followed.

Sean O'Grady vs Eusubio Pedroza for April 1978 would have happened.

 

Czyz was always overrated, mostly by Bobby himself.

 

Well O'Grady was 17 years old at the time he fought Lopez.

And come to find out Lopez really wasn't shot. As 3 fights later he won the featherweight title and successfully defended it 8 time before losing it to Salvador Sanchez.

 

I think Sean was a good B level fighter but I find it very hard to think of him without wondering how much he would've achieved without his father's shenanigans.
His dad was a cancer on the sport in the 70's and 80's and I can't help wonder if Sean would've been found out much sooner had he taken a more "conventional" route.

 

I think the opposite could also be true. If he'd been brought up slower in 'the modern way' he'd probably be lauded as an 'ATG' 'P4Per' and all that bollocks.

 

No. Arguello would have destroyed O'Grady.

 

The bout everyone wanted to see was

Sean O'Grady vs. Howard Davis

12-Rounds, for the USBA Lightweight Championship.

 

u beat me to this post CL
In the ring with Danny Little Red Lopez was no place for a pimply teen!!

 

It's fair to say that Sean was the best ever fighter that regularly walked into the ring chewing bubble gum :good

 

Wednesday Night - February 25, 1976

The Forum - Inglewood, California

#6 Featherweight - Danny 'The Red Machine' Lopez - 28-3-0 (27 KO's)
vs.
#9 Bantamweight - Sean 'The Green Machine' O'Grady - 29-0-0 (25 KO's)

Lets be fair, the 23 1/2 year-old - Danny Lopez was as dangerous 126 lb.
Featherweight out there. He had just destroyed Ruben 'KO' Olivares just
2 1/2 months earlier in his previous bout.

Sean, on the other hand was a just turned 17 year-old kid, with an
Oklahoma City 'padded record'. And Sean had been facing a steady diet
of Bantamweights. Sean came in at a light 123 lbs. on his 5' 9" frame.

Sean fought smart in the 1st-Round, by employing a hit-and-move strategy
which worked well. Sean even nailed Danny with a hard right hand that
snapped his head back. (Round 1 for Sean O'Grady).

But Sean fought crazily in Round 2, by trying to out-slug Danny. By mid-round,
Danny was getting the better of the exchanges.

In Round 3, Danny pounded Sean with heavy body punches, driving him all over
the ring, but he could not floor the 'Kid', despite rocking him several times with
hard punches.

Referee - John Thomas told Papa O'Grady that one more round like that, and he
would have to stop it.

Round 4 was a repeat of Round 3, and it was a 2:50 battering. Moments before
the bell ended Round 4, Papa O'Grady threw the towell in the ring, and it landed
on top of Danny 'Little Red' Lopez head.

This bout took place just 2-months before the WBC instituted the 122 lb. Super-
Bantamweight Division, where Sean should have been competiting in.

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Pintor-Davilla takes third billing? Wow.

 

And a fiver gets ya in!