Known by some as the ‘Bubblegum Kid’ Sean O’Grady would become the world champion, and his father Pat would be behind him, losing the crown without a fight.
O’Grady won his first 26 fights, 25 by stoppage all in his first year in boxing in 1975.
Most of O’Grady’s fights were in his home state of Oklahoma, with a few others in Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The only opponent with a winning record was when he stopped Colombian Ramon Reyes (15-5-3), at Memphis Blues Ball Park in Tennessee.
At 29-0, O’Grady met Danny ‘Little Red’ Lopez (28-3), who would later in the year win the WBC World Featherweight title David Kotey (34-2-2) in Ghana.
In the fight with Lopez, O’Grady‘s corner stopped it after four rounds. He would go on to win his next eighteen fights by stoppage before meeting Davey Vasquez, 17-9, at Madison Square Garden in New York. He would win a majority decision. He won his next seven fights by stoppage before meeting former WBA Bantamweight champion Mexico’s Romeo ‘El Lacandon’ Anaya (46-15-1), whom he stopped in three rounds at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA.
In October 1979, O’Grady faced Arturo Leon (26-17-2), and won a 15-round decision for the IBF USBA Lightweight title at the Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. In his first defense, he won a majority decision over Gonzalo Montellano (25-0-1), in Omaha, Nebraska.
Two fights later, O’Grady (73-1) would meet IBF World Lightweight champion Scotland’s Jim Watt (37-7), losing in the twelfth round due to an ugly gash to his forehead requiring 11 stitches, behind on all scorecards at the time.
Two fights later, in April 1981, O’Grady would get his second shot at a world title against Kronk’s WBA World Lightweight champion, Hilmer Kenty (20-0), in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He won the title by scores of 145-139, 147-137, and 146-138.
O’Grady’s career would take a major blow when he was stripped of his title for refusing to fight No. 1 contender Claude Noel (26-3). Noel would win the vacant title, defeating Rodolfo Gonzalez (19-0-1).
O’Grady’s father was behind Sean not taking the fight so he could start his own organization, the WAA, in October 1981 against southpaw Andy ‘Hawaiian Punch’ Ganigan (33-3), who had lost a majority decision in an eliminator with Gonzalez.
Ganigan was a late sub for 1976 Gold Medal Olympian Howard Davis, Jr. O’Grady was dropped twice in the second round and stopped at the Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Four months later, O’Grady would come back and win four straight stoppages. In October 1982, he met Pete Ranzany (57-7-2), losing a ten-round split decision. In the following year, he stopped his next opponent and met John ‘The Heat’ Verderosa (23-1), in March in Chicago, which would be his last fight, losing being dropped twice in the fourth round.
At age 24 O’Grady’s final record was 81-5 with 70 stoppages he would retire and never look back. He would become a boxing analyst on ‘USA Tuesday Night Fights’. In 1992 he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
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