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Photo © Benny Henderson Jr.
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From professional soccer player to professional boxer Irishman Oisin Fagan, 11-3 (7), has made the transition and is raring and ready to make some noise in the light welterweight division. The 5’6” fire fisted fighter made the jump from Dublin to the US five years back and since that point has gone toe to toe in a total of fourteen bouts.
After a short amateur career in Ireland, Fagan moved to Oklahoma on a soccer scholarship but after being sidelined with an injury he tried his hand in the sweet science to pay for the plane fare home. After winning his debut in 2003 he decided to stay and won his first three bouts by knockout before dropping a bout to Isaac Mendoza, a bout where a head butt produced a broken nose and cheekbone in three places, but all the while the tough as nails Irishman stayed in the ring until the bout was stopped with ten seconds to go in the fight due to the loss of blood. In February of ’04 Fagan lost a four round decision to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. while some felt he had the upset, and in December of ’04 Fagan pounded out a unanimous decision over one hundred and thirty-two fight veteran Lee Cargle earning the vacant Oklahoma State Lightweight Title.
After smacking out a lopsided win over Arkansas native Donald Cairns earlier this month, Doghouse was ringside to get his thoughts on his entertaining victory and his upcoming match-up on the 25th of this month in Oklahoma City. Fagan is under the tutelage of the twenty-five year vet Steve Thomasson, who feels Oisin’s future is bright. “I see Fagan becoming the Irish champion in June and after that who knows.” At ringside I witnessed Fagan’s performance and was very impressed with his speed and ability to counter punch. I feel the school teacher can do some serious damage in the future as his skill level and experience grows. In this exclusive interview Doghouse gets the thoughts of the fast, action pack Irishman, enjoy.
Benny Henderson Jr.: Give us your thoughts on tonight’s victory.
Oisin Fagan: Well I went in there with the premise of getting a lot of rounds behind me, it was a four round fight so I told myself I might as well go the full four rounds. Basically, that was what I did. I worked the jab so I could box a little bit more; all though I wanted to up my record of knockouts, I felt that the rounds would serve me best.
BH: You have a fight coming up the twenty-fifth of this month, what can you tell us about your opponent?
OF: I don’t know much about my opponent but it is for the Oklahoma State Title and the guy as far as I know is a big lanky fellow standing at 6’3” and that is really all I know about him. He must be extremely skinny if he is 6’3” and at the same weight as I, so no doubts my job will be to bang around the body and hopefully I will break him down and go up to the head.
BH: Ireland has a long line of great fighters, so do you feel pressure or pride hailing from the homeland?
OF: There are a lot of great fighters like Wayne McCullough, Barry McGuigan, Steve Collins and a host of other great Irish fighters that are brilliant but I don’t feel like I am on the same level as those guys, not right now anyway. Give me another ten fights and if I keep on doing what I am doing right now, then maybe you can start saying my name in the same breath as those guys, but certainly not now.
BH: What do you feel is your best punch?
OF: I like the left hook to the body, that is usually my best punch, kind of like a Mickey Ward shot.
BH: You had the fight with Chavez Jr. Looking back on that what do you feel you should have done different and would you like a rematch?
OF: Oh I would love a rematch and he knows I would, we have talked about it maybe twice or three times since then but basically his manager told my manager at the time, I was too tough. Well actually, back then, I was too tough for him, until his last fight, which was a draw, but in an interview before prior to that Molina fight, he admitted that I was his toughest. I felt that I did enough to at least get a draw if not the win, but I was never going to get the win in Vegas, as he is the son of a legend and I think I didn’t have much of a chance unless I would have knocked him out.
BH: What would you say to the other guys out in your division?
OF: I am not a cocky guy so I am not going to say that I am going to beat people up, all I can say is that if you come to fight me, then you better do just that- fight, because I bring it 100% every time. I feel that the skill is getting better with every fight and I am working hard on that.
BH: Is there anything you would like to say in closing of this interview?
OF: I just want to say that I am working very hard to become a complete fighter and I know I have a lot of work to do but I think with my work rate I think I can be a pretty good boxer. Stacy (Goodson) and I are now in partnership and I feel that it's a very good merging and we can hopefully do something in the future and win a few titles.
I would like to thank Oisin Fagan and Steve Thomason for their time, if you are going to be in the Oklahoma area around the 25th of this month and would like to see the ‘Gael Force’ live in action please visit www.slugout.com for ticket information. |
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2006
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INTERVIEW By "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr. (Febraury 22, 2006)
