February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
O’Regan is the first Irish-born fighter to reach the finals of the world’s oldest and largest amateur boxing tournament since Alo Kelly in 1998. His semifinal victory capped a remarkable week for Irish boxing following the Foxwoods rout led by Duddy.
“It’s a dream come true. I’m very happy,” said O’Regan, who fights for Webster PAL in the Bronx.
In his third Gloves tournament, the 29-year-old Limerick product squared off with Smith at St. Catherine’s Church in Franklin Square lifted by Duddy’s electrifying KO of Lenord Pierre.
“I just wish that I could have pulled off one of his hooks,” he said smiling. “I tried a few times and missed.”
O’Regan conceded that his eagerness to knock out Smith as well as his Bed-Stuy opponent’s awkward style made him look less polished than he has appeared before.
“Every punch I was loading up,” he said. “I should have gone to the body more.”
A sustained body assault could have probably done the job against Smith, who was never in the four-round contest, as reflected by the 5-0 scoring in O’Regan’s favor by the five judges.
The Irishman set the tempo from the start, showing good defensive skills but looking less sharp offensively, as every other punch seemed to miss. He was still able to land a few shots on the chin in the second round, from which Smith never recovered.
Smith appeared glassy-eyed and in the throes of fatigue for the rest of the bout, taking standing eight-counts at the end of the second and third stanzas.
Although unable to close the show with the knockout he was seeking, O’Regan was clearly the dominant man — a point the 30-year-old Smith did not dispute in the lockerroom later.
“No excuses,” said the five-time Gloves participant. “My legs were not there. I should have trained harder.”
Being the hard taskmaster that he is, trainer Edwin Martinez was far from pleased with O’Regan’s performance.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement,” he said. “That guy was a dead guy. [O’Regan] should have taken him in the second round. The left hook is not there yet.”
But there was a resounding endorsement from O’Regan’s father, Jim, who summed up his son’s qualification for the finals thus: “A win is a win.”
Visiting from Limerick, Jim O’Regan will stay on to watch Don go for gold against Rosinsky, a 5-0 points winner over Kingsway Boxing Club’s Ronald Newbold in the other semifinal.
The 178-pound open final will be the fourth meeting between O’Regan and Rosinsky, a 20-year-old from Starrett City B.C. who’s enjoyed a meteoric rise in the amateurs since losing a decision to O’Regan in the first round of the 165-novice class in last year’s Gloves.
Since then, Rosinsky, whose great-grandmother was Catherine Walsh Rosinsky of Six Mile Bridge, Co. Clare, has beaten O’Regan twice (once by disqualification) in local club shows and was stellar at the U.S. National Amateur Championships in Colorado two weeks ago, where he added the 178-pound crown to his other regional titles.
The Queens College junior is thrilled at the matchup with O’Regan.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “Me and Don get along pretty well. May the best man win.”