O’Malley vs Brazoban in Queens bout, Sept. 8

By Jay Mwamba

Martin O’ Malley’s quest for boxing glory continues on Friday, September 8, when he meets Damian Brazoban of New Jersey in a scheduled eight-round lightweight contest at the Elks Club in Queens.

On the undercard, 1996 Irish Olympian Cathal O’ Grady, a 13-2 (10 KO’s) light heavyweight from Kildare, will make his U.S. debut against New Englander Darren Whitley.

Also on the card, the second in as many months in Rockall Promotion’s new "Big Apple Fight Night series," will be a heavyweight match between Pittsburgh’s Tim Williamson and George Holder of Virginia. Other bouts will feature ex-Irish Ropes ABC featherweight Fari Caba (1-0) and lightweight Darling Jiminez, in his pro debut.

The sensational O’ Malley (14-0, 13 KO’s) is coming off a first round stoppage over John Scalzi at Yonkers Raceway, which kept his current knock out streaking going at eight.

But in the 12-7 Brazoban, the hard punching O’Malley, a 25-year-old Edmonds, Washington State native, who spent his formative years in County Wicklow, will be facing an opponent who has never been stopped.

"This will be a good test for Martin," Rockall spokesman Martin Somers said in New York last weekend. "Brazoban has never been stopped (but) we’ll see if he can take Martin’s body punching."

Somers said O’Malley was now ranked 16th by the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) rankings, "and we hope to have him fighting for that belt soon."

And O’ Grady hopes to get his short career back on track against Whitley when they square off over six rounds. A former European junior heavyweight gold medallist who won 10 Irish National titles as an amateur, O’Grady was halted in the first round in his last fight eight weeks ago in Belfast.

"I’m ready to rebound," the 23 year-old dairy farmer said, before adding: "I’m just looking forward to getting in there and giving a good account of myself."

"Cathal is a big puncher and the crowd will see fireworks from him," Rockall co-founder Eddie McLoughlin predicted. "He has been sparring here in New York for the last few weeks and he will be a regular on the Big Apple Fight Night series."

O’Grady, whose Kildare training schedule entails milking the cows at 6 a.m. at the family farm before morning road-run, was a 200-pound heavyweight when he represented Ireland in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He dropped down to the 175-lb light heavyweight division after turning pro in September 1997.

He trained for the Olympics by sparring with former world heavyweight title contender Phil Jackson in Florida, but is still rankled by the manner of his first round loss against an opponent from New Zealand.

"He threw me down in the first round and I hurt my back and head and couldn’t go on. He was cautioned by the referee but was given the fight," he said.

The frustrating bit for O’Grady is that he was ahead 7-2 on points at the time of the stoppage. "I was unfortunate on that occasion," he added.

On the positive side, O’Grady remains awed by the entire Olympic experience, outside of the ring. "It’s something very special to represent your country in the Olympics," he remarked.