February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Lightweight Sean Mallon hopes to join his brother Martin and light heavyweight Alo Kelly in the second round of the New York Golden Gloves boxing tournament when he begins his campaign for the 132-pound open title at Yonkers Raceway tonight.
Mallon came up short in his Golden Gloves debut two years ago, but the County Armagh resident, who will enter the Yonkers ring with a 40-10 amateur record, says he’s in for the long haul this time.
"I expect to do well," the 21-year-old Mallon, one of few Irish-based pugilists to ever win a regional U.S. championship, said at the weekend.
Mallon won the New York Metro lightweight crown in 1998.
"He’s ready," trainer Conor Higgins said of his charge. "He’s been training hard and should do well."
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Higgins said Mallon’s previous Golden Gloves experience and past Metro success should stand him in good stead in the competition, America’s biggest and oldest amateur boxing tournament.
"It’s not a new experience for him. He’s been there before and the pressure won’t get to him," the trainer, himself just 25, remarked.
Mallon has also been buoyed by the sparring he’s done with former world Boxing Council bantamweight champion Tracy Harris Patterson at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn Heights.
Rust free
Less than a week after his labored points victory over Daniel Malave in the first round of the Golden Gloves’ light heavyweight division, Westmeath native Alo Kelly declared himself rust free and on the road to back to fighting shape.
"The rust has gone," Kelly said at the weekend, as he stepped up his training program before the second-round matches in three weeks time.
Kelly struggled with fitness in his fight with Malave, after a spell of inactivity following his quarterfinal loss in All-Irish Championships in Dublin last month.
But he’s aiming to erase that disappointment by strike gold in the Gloves.
"It’s a tough one this year," the 1998 light heavyweight open division runner-up noted. "There’s a number of tough lads."
Kelly and Martin Mallon, the Irish intermediate titlist, aside, the field also includes Jose Diaz, a fighter Kelly beat en route to the final two years ago, and Troy Sampson, who denied Kelly a pair of the coveted golden
glove pendants with a disputed points decision in the 1998 final.
"It’s going to be tough to win, but I’ll be in shape. I’ll be at my best," Kelly vowed.