February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Irish light heavyweight intermediate champion Martin Mallon makes his New York Golden Gloves debut this Saturday at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
"I’ll give it my best," the 19-year-old amateur pug said after a training session at the weekend. "I can’t say much more until I see my opponent, but I know it will be tough."
His opponent in the Open class of the 178-pound division won’t be announced until later this week.
Mallon’s brother, 21-year-old lightweight Sean Mallon, is not expected to fight until after Feb. 15.
The two brothers from Camlough, Co. Amargh, came to New York to compete in the Golden Gloves, the oldest and largest amateur boxing tournament in the United States.
Never miss an issue of The Irish Echo
Subscribe to one of our great value packages.
They will represent the Irish Ropes Boxing Club of Maspeth, Queens, along with 1998 Gloves light heavyweight Open losing finalist Alo Kelly.
Martin, who stands 5-foot-9 has a 16-4 record, while Sean, a former New York Metro Games champion who’ll be making his second appearance in the Gloves, has won 40 of his 50 amateur bouts.
The brothers’ local trainer, Conor Higgins, said he was happy that computer scoring would be used for the first time in this year’s tournament.
"It’s good for their style," he noted.