A hectic 2023 behind him, amateur champion Sean O'Bradaigh is already chomping at the bit ahead of his first scrap of 2024.
The 21-year-old New York University senior -- who came close to qualifying for both Irish and U.S. Olympic teams to the Paris Games this summer – returns to action on Jan. 20. That’s when he squares off with New York Metropolitan champion Adrian Frometa at the Stereo Garden, located at 9 Railroad Ave., Patchogue, Long Island.
O'Bradaigh and Frometa will duke it out for the SBC Elite Men’s light heavyweight title. The doors open at 5 p.m., with the first fight at 6 p.m. Visit www. strongislandfights.com for ticket information.
“He’s been in the amateur game for a very long time,” O'Bradaigh said of his opponent from the Bronxchester BC. “I was sparring at a gym a month ago and a guy asked me who I was fighting next. I told him and he said ‘Frometa was fighting when I was fighting,’ and the guy [has been] retired for a long time. So I think [Frometa] has been fighting in the amateurs for close to a decade.
“The only time I saw him fight was at the Garden, he lost in the light heavyweight open class final last year in the Ring Masters. But yeah, I'm definitely gonna need to try and find some of his [video clips], so I can kind of study him better.”
Leaving none of the proverbial stones unturned ahead of what should be an eventful year, the unattached O'Bradaigh has been training six days a week.
He’s in his senior year at NYU and is scheduled to graduate in December with a bachelor’s of science degree in real estate.
“It will coincide perfectly with my boxing because my goal is to make the U.S. national team by the end of this year, and then by then I'll know whether to kind of pursue a career in boxing or, you know, work the corporate ladder [and] do whatever.”
O'Bradaigh is the New York Boxing Tournament Elite light heavyweight champion, and also bagged the 2023 Ring Masters/Golden Gloves middleweight novice titlist. In addition to that, he was a top four finisher at the National Championships in Texas last summer. That earned him an invitation to the Olympic trials in Colorado and, later, a wild card shot.
In between those two trials, O'Bradaigh, whose father has Dublin roots, participated in the National Elite Championships in Dublin with a spot on the Irish team to Paris beckoning. He lost to European light heavyweight titlist Gabriel Dossen in the semi-finals.
COYLE FUMES
Back in Florida to step up training for the biggest match of his career, world ranked Derryman Connor “The Kid” Coyle is promising to make middleweight rival Austin “Ammo” Williams eat his words for trash talking ahead of their Feb. 3 clash in Las Vegas.
The Texas southpaw [15-0, 10 KOs] has vowed to smudge Coyle’s own unbeaten record [20-0, 9 KOs] when they meet in a WBA world title eliminator at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas live on DAZN.
Coyle, the North American Boxing Association [NABA] titlist, is ranked #6 in the world by the WBA. Williams is the IBF North American title holder and ranked #3 by the WBA and #6 by the WBC and IBF.
"He loves to talk and he'll eat his words come fight night," Coyle told the Derry Journal. "He will understand there are levels to boxing because if he thinks he's going in there against me for an easy fight he'll have to think again once he gets into the ring.
"He can say what he wants, he's not going to get under my skin. I know what he's like. I'll not be taking anything he says on board, I know what I have to do and what I can do and that's all that matters to me.
"This is the fight we've been waiting for and I'm going to be ready for it. I've 20 fights under my belt. I've been in a few 10 round fights so I'm ready for this. This will be a world title eliminator as well so I'll be fighting for a world title next!”
