By Leonard Gunning

Former Irish light welterweight Oisin ‘Gael Force’ Fagan talks to BoxingScene.com as he calls a halt to his professional career and steps into a new roll with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association.

 

So Oisin, after such an eventful career why have you decided to retire?

 

I decided to retire from the boxing ring, so that I could give a little back to my community, both through my experiences within boxing circles and the familiarity I have teaching children.  Most boxing fans know that I was a primary schoolteacher in the USA and I must say that I miss my kids an awful lot having left the teaching profession about 18 months ago, when I returned home to Dublin.

 

Unfortunately though, our own Department of Education in Ireland wouldn’t facilitate me by allowing my teaching qualifications and degrees from the USA to be fully-recognised here and I had to make the difficult decision, to give up on teaching in the traditional sense, but instead, I decided to see if I could find another way to make a difference in the lives of our youth.

Thankfully, I found it.  I landed a job recently with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA), who acknowledged my past experiences and qualifications and I now feel that I can continue to help children and make a difference in our ever-changing society and all of this through the great sport of boxing.

It’s a dream job for me and one that will allow me to help out on many levels; not least, facilitate some of the many disadvantaged youth in Dublin, including some of the youngsters from the travelling community looking to fulfill their dreams, and certainly not forgetting; some of the poor, young, immigrants who have come to our country in hopes of improving their lives in some way.

I'm hoping I'll be able to help our young people to realise their potential within the realm of boxing, but even more importantly, to find their niche in life, helping them acquire the discipline it takes to become up-standing members of their communities.

 

Will you miss boxing?

 

Ah, of course I am going to miss boxing.  It’s been really good to me and my story is a testament to anyone who has the dedication, to struggle and sacrifice, for a dream.  I started out as a pretty decent soccer player actually and went to the US on a full-soccer-scholarship at the age of 24.  I excelled in the classroom too, but still fell on hard times financially - even after graduation.  That’s when I decided to give professional boxing a shot at 29 years of age- my first fight just earned me a meager $200; however, so much more happened that night that would change my life forever.  I stopped Sheldon Mosley in the 4th round, so my professional boxing career was initiated; but on top of that I met the school principal of Columbus Elementary, Phil Cunningham, who learned of my qualifications and offered me an interview.  I attended the interview, did well and was offered the job as a PE teacher and with it came my second career.  God must have sent a Guardian Angel to look after me that night.

 

How did you manage to teach and continue boxing?

 

I spent the next 5-years teaching by day and moonlighting as a professional boxer.  I worked at an inner city Oklahoma City public school, but the surrounding areas were badly affected by Latino Gangs. It opened my eyes to many harsh realities, but it also gave me a chance to help some of the kids keep out of trouble.  I introduced many of them to boxing programmes and I got great support from the Latino community and minorities in the area, not to mention the local folk too.  Furthermore, my kids from school used to come and watch me fight, when I had any bouts locally they were always a great boost for me.

 

Who was the toughest opponent you faced?

 

I’ve fought a few world champions and many high-profile fighters, such as Spadafora, Kimbrough, Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Junior but to be honest, the toughest fight I remember being in, was against Chill John, who was relatively unknown.  However, he was a really tough kid.  I ended up winning that fight, but it was a struggle and it was close.  He burst my eardrum in the very first round, so I was dizzy for the rest of the eight round fight.  I had to dig deep and just about pulled it off.

 

What are the highlights of your career?

 

One of my most memorable fights was against my pal, Eddie Hyland, (which was awarded BoxingScene.com’s ‘Irish Fight of the Year 2009’).  That was a great little scrap over 12 rounds, for the IBF International title.  But my proudest moment was probably winning the Irish light welterweight title in 2006 against Jeff Thomas.  Winning the Oklahoma State title was a highlight too, even though it was a very minor title it made me realise that if you possess the dedication, resolve and are tenacious in battle, you can still pull off major upsets; regardless of your lack of skills, ha ha.

 

It was also a great thrill, feeling that I’d ‘beaten’ the unbeaten, former IBF world champion, Paul Spadafora, on a card promoted by his promoter, only to find out that he’d beaten me by a dodgy split decision.  The same happened to me in West Virginia when I felt I had beaten Verquan Kimbrough for the USBA title, but found out he was awarded that fight too, via another controversial split decision, that was very disappointing, but also to be expected when you’re not the promoter’s boy.

It was also a great experience coming out to 16,000 people at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to give Julio Cesar Chavez Junior a good run for his money too.

 

What about the Amir Khan fight?

 

That was the worst night of my life. I went over on my ankle and suffered a spiral break of my left fibula in front of the whole world after a minute of the fight and on pay-per-view TV.  I tried to fight on, but I was falling over without even being punched, as I couldn’t hold my body-weight on the broken leg.  The lads threw in the towel, because they knew I’d never go down and stay down, regardless of the pain.

 

How would you like to be remembered?

 

As someone who fought tooth and nail for the pride of my country- someone who would fight anybody, anywhere, no matter their reputation and no matter who the promoter was.  Even, if against the promoter’s 'Golden Boy', where I had no chance of winning unless I knocked them out, because of all the politics in the business.

 

Some legendary fighter’s have said some great things about me in the past, which I will always remember. Big George Foreman told me, “Irishman, you are one tough cookie”.  Ray ‘Boom-Boom’ Mancini said, “Fagan is an Irish warrior of epic proportions”.

The great Julio Cesar Chavez (Senior) didn't say much, but after I fought his son, the camera switched to see his reaction and it looked as if he thought that JCC Junior had been beaten the night we fought each other, which was quite a satisfying image.

I've also been shown much respect from many of my opponents. Chavez Junior, Paul Spadafora and Verquan Kimbrough all said that I was one of their toughest opponents, which was very gracious of them and Eddie Hyland and I shared a fantastic fight- one that will go down in the history books.  So, I have great memories of many nights in the ring and now I hope to be able to help use my knowledge and experience to enhance and forge many other individual’s lives in the future, whilst using boxing as the medium.