Irish boxer (b. 1973)

Oisín *an, (born 24 December 1973) nicknamed "Gael Force", is an Irish former professional boxer based in Oklahoma City, U.S., who fought in the light welterweight and lightweight divisions.

Contents

• 1 Background
• 2 Professional career
  • 2.1 Debut fights
  • 2.2 Oklahoma State lightweight *le
  • 2.3 Irish light welterweight *le
  • 2.4 Spadafora fight
  • 2.5 Khan fight
• 3 External links
• 4 References

Background

Although a native Dubliner from Tallaght, Oisín (pronounced "Usheen" ) *an, a grade school teacher by profession, is based in Oklahoma.

At the age of 12, *an moved to Portmarnock and began to play for a number of football clubs such as, Glebe North, St. Malachy's and Portmarnock F.C. *an then travelled to the US on a football (soccer) scholarship to undertake Bachelor's degrees in Physical Education and Political Journalism at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

During his time at university *an was twice awarded the All American Scholar Athlete award, as well as chosen to represent the regional All Star team. Following the completion of his degrees course *an then turned his attention towards boxing.

Professional career

Debut fights

*an had only three fights in his amateur career before turning professional in February 2003, winning his first fight at the AMC Flea Market in Oklahoma City, when he knocked out fellow debutant Sheldon Mosley.

*an's first loss came against Isaac Mendoza in July 2003. Mendoza gave *an which broke his nose and cheekbone in three places. *an refused to have the fight stopped until the bout was over however with ten seconds to go in the fight the referee called a halt to the fight due to the loss of blood.

After *an's first nine pro fights he had a patchy record of six wins and three losses including a points defeat to Julio César Chávez Jr. Following this mediocre start to his career and a defeat to Derrick Moon in October 2004, *an had considered quitting boxing but was encouraged to continue by former world champion Wayne McCullough. *an then went to train with McCullough and found a new drive behind his boxing and decided to give boxing one final chance.

Oklahoma State lightweight *le

*an then fought for his first *le belt in December 2004 against Lee Cargle for the vacant Oklahoma State lightweight *le. The venue was sold out and the atmosphere was charged. Cargle landed the first meaningful blows of the fight when he caught *an with a surprise right hand, which landed flush on his jaw. *an thought the fight was over but shuck it off and returned with a number of flurries to win the opening round.

*an continued to throw jabs to the body and the head and controlled much of the middle of the fight. In the third after *an almost floored Cargle, Cargle smiled at *an and said "man, I'm not going anywhere - you ain't knocking me out!" to which *an laughed and replied "maybe not, but I'm gonna try my best".

Cargle began to showboat in the fourth and pushed *an hard in the fifth but *an was again dominant in the sixth and final round when he caught Cargle with combination and landed a straight right which cut with opponent. Despite the tough fight *an took the *le belt by unanimous decision with a margin of 60-54 on all score cards. The venue erupted on hearing the decision with table top celebrations and Irish tricolours waving as *an was swamped by his cheering school pupils.

Irish light welterweight *le

After winning the Oklahoma State *le, *an went on a run. Seven straight wins before he was handed a shot at the vacant Irish light welterweight *le in June 2006. The Irish *le had been vacated by unbeaten fellow Dubliner Robbie Murray to allow *an and Peter McDonagh to fight for the *le. However, McDonagh pulled out of the fight and *an faced Jeff Thomas for the *le. *an was furious over McDonagh's withdrawal, stating;

"I'm angry and very disappointed but honestly I just knew something like this would happen. He got scared that's all there is to it! He mouthed off at the press conference declaring that he was going to knock me out. Then I heard he was frantically looking for tapes of some of my fights. He watched one of my fights live in Dublin last year, when I knocked out an American lad in 83 seconds of the first round and then the only other tape he could have watched was when I gave Julio César Chávez Jr. the best fight of his career in Las Vegas. Then, all of a sudden, it looks like he got cold feet. I don't think he's injured at all"

An angry *an won the Irish *le in front of his friends and family with a knockout victory in round seven against Thomas at the National Stadium, Dublin.

Spadafora fight

*an returned to the US after winning the Irish *le and defeated Brian Paul in Tulsa with a second round KO.

He then earned a shot at highly touted and unbeaten former IBF lightweight *le holder Paul Spadafora.

In March 2007, *an suffered a loss to Paul Spadafora in a split decision over ten rounds.

Khan fight

In December 2008, *an faced Britain's Amir Khan at the London ExCel Arena. Khan dominated the whole the fight and stopped *an in the 2nd round. *an was also knocked down twice in the 1st round by a quick fury of punches from Khan. *an's corner threw in the towel early during the 2nd. It was later revealed that *an had broken his leg as a result of the first knockdown and this seriously hurt his balance.

External links

• Boxing record for Oisin *an from BoxRec (registration required)
• Oisin *an interview on KFOR-TV for St. Patrick's Day

References