By: William Holmes
Golden Boy Live on Fox Sports 1 was broadcast from Plymouth, Massachusetts at the Memorial Hall on Thursday night. Danny O’Connor, a former Olympian, fought in front of his home town crowd and for the first time in over a year.
The first bout of the night was in the super middleweight division between Irish prospect Jason Quigley (2-0) and thirty-eight year old Greg McCoy (3-3-1).
McCoy didn’t start boxing professionally until about five years ago, and despite the fact he was the older fighter, Quigley looked like the much more experienced and polished boxer. Quigley landed his straight right hand early and often in the first round and was first to the punch during any exchange between the two boxers. Quigley was seemingly landing at will in the first and even connected with lead left hooks, while McCoy was reaching for his punches and missing short.
McCoy was complaining to the referee about punches landing to the back of his head, but the shots that were landing were clean and sharp. Quigley ended the fight early with a left hook, straight right hand combination that dropped McCoy to the mat. McCoy was badly hurt and did not get up before the count of ten.
Jason Quigley had a quick night with a knockout at 2:39 of the first round.
The next bout of the night was between Sharif “The Lion” Bogere (25-1) and Fernando Garcia (30-6-2) in the junior welterweight division.
Garcia and Bogere were similar in height, but Garcia had a four-inch reach advantage. Bogere came out aggressive in the first round and was focusing on the body early on. His combinations were crisp in the first round and he had no problems with Garcia’s reach. He landed a hard left uppercut near the end of the first that forced Garcia to cover up as the round ended.
Bogere came out aggressive again in the second round and knocked Garcia down with a lunging left hand. Garcia was able to bounce back to his feet, but was met with several combinations to the body and head. Garcia was fighting back, but he was clearly outclassed by Bogere.
Bogere continued to dominate in the third and fourth rounds and was out-throwing and out-landing Garcia. Garcia was unable to muster up any offense, and by the end of the fourth, Bogere had out-landed Garcia 128 to 37 punches.
Bogere started to put more power behind his punches in the fifth round and finally ended the fight with a two consecutive straight right hands that sent Garcia to the mat. Garcia shook his head “no” as the referee counted to ten and the fighter did not get back to his feet.
Sharif Bogere put on an impressive performance with a knockout victory at 2:10 of the fifth round.
Mark DeLuca (11-0) met Ryan Davis (24-14) in the middleweight division in the next televised bout of the night.
DeLuca is ten years younger than Davis and Davis was in the midst of a five fight losing streak.
DeLuca immediately attacked the body of Davis and had him backing up in the first round. He switched stances in the first round smoothly and sent Davis to the mat with a hard combination to the body and head. He had Davis hurt again with a left hook to the body, but Davis somehow was able to stay on his feet.
Davis continued to display incredible power in the second round, pummeling Davis to the body and head and taking his opponent’s best punches well. Davis, somehow, did not go to the mat in the second, but you could the sense the end of the fight was near.
DeLuca knocked Davis down again in the third round with some vicious body shots, but got back to his feet. The referee asked Davis if he wanted to continue and he wrongly said “yes.” DeLuca showed no signs of slowing down and landed several more body shots which forced Davis to sit on the ropes and give up another knockdown.
For some unknown reason, Davis’ corner sent him out for the fourth round, despite him taking a beating the previous three rounds. The fourth round was the same as the previous three, DeLuca worked on Davis as if he was punching a heavy bag.
Davis’ corner finally wised up and stopped the fight before the start of the fifth round. Mark DeLuca defeated Ryan Davis by TKO at the end of round four.
The main event of the night was between Danny O’Connor (23-2) and Andrew Farmer (18-2) in the welterweight division.
These two were the same age and same height, but Farmer had a three-inch reach advantage. Farmer came out aggressive in the first round, but was sloppy and inaccurate with his punches. O’Connor was sharp in the first round and landed right hooks to the head and body and was accurate with his jab. Farmer’s face was already red from O’Connor’s punches by the end of the first.
By the second round, it was clear that O’Connor was the better technical boxer, and was beginning to have his way with his opponent. Farmer took a knee after a combination by O’Connor, but was able to get up before the count of ten.
Farmer put up a better fight in the third round, and found a home for his check right hook, but his face was starting to bruise and the left side of his face was getting tagged by the combinations of O’Connor.
A clash of heads opened up a cut on O’Connor’s head in the fourth round, but O’Connor sent Farmer to the mat again with a well-placed body shot.
Farmer did not get up before the count of ten.
Danny O’Connor wins by knockout at 2:33 of the fourth round.
