Fagan wants to end his career on a Sweet Pea note

By Jonny Stapleton

Oisin Fagan wants to end his career on a sweet note by defeating Kevin ’Sweet Pea’ O’Hara for the Irish title.

Veteran Fagan felt his boxing innings initially ended on a sour note with defeat to Andy Murray on the RTE cameras back in 2010, so he re-laced the gloves and recorded  a victory over Hungarian journey man Karoly Lakatos early this year.

However, that wasn’t enough for the well travelled and respected tough man, the Dubliner wants a fight with a bit of prestige and significance.

Now having seen a potential dust up with ’The Magic Man’ Paulie Malignaggi disappear Gael Force wants an Irish title fight with the Belfast fighter.

The former Irish champion read on www.irish-boxing.com that O’Hara was looking for a title shot and he is keen to provide the opposition.

“I had been in touch with former world champ, “The Magic Man” Paulie Malignaggi on a couple of occasions, in the past six months, trying to secure a fight with him. Initially, he seemed really interested- even suggesting that we should fight in Atlantic City. However when I tried to get his promoter to send a contract, he started ignoring my texts. Since the only other living Italian-American fighter who has a higher-profile, would be perhaps, Paul Spadafora and I took him to the only split decision of his unbeaten career, I think Malignaggi wanted to be seen as the best, by beating me convincingly; however, he took that fight with Lora and didn’t get back on to me,” Fagan told www.irish-boxing.com.

“Then, I heard that Kevin O’Hara was looking for an Irish title fight, so he need not look any further, because I’d like to fight Kevin. I don’t know him very well, but have met him a couple of times and he’s a really nice lad, but both of our careers need a fight like this. We’ve both fought some of the best in the world and both just fell short of world title honours. He brought Ricky Burns to an inch of a loss and I have fought a few world champions and brought them to very close decisions, so I think it’s a very natural fight for us both.

One stumbling block to a potential domestic dust up is weight. O’Hara, who was rumoured to be fighting on December 3, is targeting a super featherweight title onslaught, but his Dublin counterpart doesn’t think he can make 9 st 4lbs.

“I would really like it to be for a title, from my last Irish fight. I have only ever made super-feather once in my life and I couldn’t possibly make it again at my age. So, I’d be looking at a fight at lightweight or light-welter,” Fagan added.

However if the pair did trade leather the former Oklahoma State champion is confident he would win what he believes would be a fight of the year contender. Strangely enough, Fagan hopes others don’t hold the same belief in him so he can go into the challenge as an underdog.

“Some would have Kevin as the favourite going into this fight; whereas, others would fancy me. Although anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t dodge anyone and I relish the underdog role. I’ve never contended that I was the best boxer in the world, but I think I’ve proved that I’d always fight the best in the world, not worrying about unblemished records or stellar reputations. I’ve fought numerous world champions at this stage of my career and apart from breaking my leg against Khan, I have given a good account of myself with them all; unlucky, not to beat at least a couple of the alphabet world champs on their fight-cards, including Spaddy, Kimbrough and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr,” Fagan continued.

“I’m confident I can beat him. I think it would be a great fight and he’s a good little scrapper. It’s nothing new to me, but he’s probably a better ‘boxer’ than I am; however, even including the world champs I’ve fought, I have yet to meet anyone with a heart like mine and that’s the only reason I’ve been anyway successful in this sport, considering I only had 3 amateur fights over the space of 6 years just to keep fit for football. I know that’s a bit mad, but I guess that’s what defines me as a fighter’s fighter. I really hope this fight gets made, as I truly think it could be another potential fight of the year.”