Sean O'Grady (born February 10, 1959) is the former WBA Lightweight Champion of the World, and currently an American commercial realtor. O'Grady had a record of 81 wins and five losses as a professional boxer, with 70 wins by knockout. O'Grady is also a college graduate, boxing analyst, television personality,

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and former teen idol across the

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Midwest.

Early life

O'Grady was born in

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. The son of boxing trainer Pat O'Grady and boxing promoter Jean O'Grady, he moved around a lot when he was a younger kid, but his family settled in

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, when he was 11 years old.

Boxing career

O'Grady started boxing professionally in 1975. In 1980, he had his first world title try, when the

World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) is an international professional boxing organization. It is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation ...

lightweight champion Jim Watt gave him an opportunity to fight for the title. O'Grady travelled to

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to fight Watt, but sustained a cut over the forehead due to a head butt late in the bout and lost by a technical knockout in round 12. The O'Grady's protested the fight's result 24 hours later while in Ireland, arguing that the cut had been caused by the headbutt, not a punch. Because of the controversy surrounding the fight, the

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...

lightweight champion, Hilmer Kenty, gave O'Grady another opportunity at the title. They met on April 12, 1981. O'Grady again suffered a cut early in the bout, but he dropped Kenty in rounds two and eight and won a unanimous decision. In part because of problems with his manager/father, he never defended the WBA title and was eventually stripped of it. Pat O'Grady then formed the little-regarded (and very short lived) World Athletic Association to recognize Sean as a champion. O'Grady promptly lost this "championship" to Andy Ganigan of

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. He regularly chewed bubble gum upon entering the ring prior to fights, and because of this, he earned the nickname "Bubble Gum Bomber."

Professional boxing record

TV analyst

O'Grady served as analyst for television boxing show '' USA Tuesday Night Fights'' which aired from October 1982 to August 1998 on the USA Network.

References

External links