Danny O’Connor: Boxing’s Return to Boston

Many opponents still search for a way to keep up with the agile O’Connor, just ask Daniel Sostre.

Beantown may be referred to as Title Town, but many forget this was an area labeled as “cursed” before the turn of the 21^st Century. Outside of the Celtics’ 1985-1986 Championship run, Massachusetts residents watched their teams suffer heartbreaking defeats that naturally rendered the organizations as cursed.

Occasionally forgotten in the backdrop of all the heartbreak, Boxing was relevant during this span. In 1985, Lowell’s own Mickey Ward turned professional, and jolted through the Junior Welterweight ranks, winning 14-consecutive-fights. After a brief hiatus in the early 90’s to fuse the bones in his hand, Ward returned to the ring in 1994 and essentially never looked back. Ward captured the hearts of boxing fans nationwide when he won nine straight fights, including a TKO victory at the Fleet Center in Boston for the World Boxing Union’s Light Welterweight Title in 1996. Ward’s continued vault through the ranks led to a couple more title fights, but only recaptured the WBO Light Welterweight Title in 2000 against Shea Neary. Before hanging up the gloves in 2003, Ward undoubtedly left a lasting image in the hearts of boxing fans nationwide by fighting Arturo Gatti in a three fight trilogy, with two of the fights having the recognition by Ring Magazine as “Fight of the Year.” Even though Ward (Career: 38-13-0, 27 KO’s) didn’t necessarily have the fanfare that a “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler (62-3-2, 52 KO’s) or Rocky Marciano (49-0-0, 43 KO’s) had in New England, he still kept a boxing-ravaged area engaged in the sport.

The Patriots lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants again, the Celtics came up just short against the most hated team in America, the Bruins got upset in the first round of the playoffs and the Red Sox continue to disappoint. If there was ever a time for a feel-good story in the area, the time is now.

Many wonder why the American mental makeup gravitates towards athletes or situations in which common sense tells you not to believe in something, but you do anyway. To me, it’s not hard to figure out why Americans are wired this way because after all, our country was founded on the same beliefs. Whether it’s a baseball player’s rise back to stardom after a drug addiction or a boxer putting everything on the line because he has no where else to turn; the world will always be captivated.

In New England, the next story of redemption currently is unfolding in Framingham boxer, Danny O’Connor. O’Connor grew up causing havoc for police forces on the streets of Framingham, always answering questions by the local authorities. After getting kicked out of Framingham High School, O’Connor found himself at his lowest point as he continued his education at an alternative school for troubled teens which he eventually graduated from in 2003. Due to the high cost of youth athletics and the violence that accompanied football or hockey, O’Connor’s mother, Eileen Neas-O’Connor, opted for her son to play soccer or baseball, but his love for the sport of boxing never wavered.

“I used to watch fights; my grandfather was in the service, so he use to have me watching Friday Night Fights when I was a little kid, so I grew up being intrigued by it. My mother was real standoffish about any physical sports, so once I was old enough to choose a sport by myself, I chose boxing,” the soft-spoken O’Connor declared, whose first boxing lessons came in middle school.

When many young teens gravitate towards the ring, the reason is usually due to a mentality that they’re one of the toughest fighters in their area. However, the Irish-American was drawn to the sport due to the “art form of boxing and the one-on-one competition.”

Although still in love with boxing, O’Connor wishes he had the opportunity to play golf growing up because “the sport is a form of relaxation” for him from the daily grinds of training for a fight. Just like any other New-England kid, he loves his local sports team and declares the New England Revolution one of his favorite. The Revolution tend to get lost in the shuffle of the major sports teams in the area, but the former youth soccer player was dignified by serving as the Honorary Revs Captain.

“The Revolution and I have done a lot of work together, and they’re a great group of guys, but I love all the teams. Shawn Thornton from the Bruins walked me out to the ring in my last fight and I respect all athletes. Watching the local teams practice, they make it look so easy but there’s a mutual respect amongst all athletes for our work in each sport.”

O’Connor isn’t exactly what you would call a flash-in-the-pan boxer, as he’s decorated with numerous accolades in the amateur ranks. In particular, 2008 marked the biggest year of O’Connor’s career when he won the 2008 National Golden Gloves championship, U.S. Future Stars National Champion for Outstanding Boxer, 2008 Olympic Alternate on Boxing Team and was featured in the May 5 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated in the “Faces in the Crowd” section. Also in 2008, a month before the Olympics, Danny-O, as his fans refer to him as, dominated a fight against the eventual Gold Medalist of the Beijing Games, Manuel Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic in a 23-3 decision. O’Connor credits the experience of competing with elite athletes at the Olympics as one of the turning points in his young career.

“Being on that elite level of athletes, even though I didn’t compete, I was still part of the Olympic Games in China, got to watch some events, and I’ll always have that no matter what happens. I was part of a team, with the best athletes in the world. I shared bus rides over to train with guys like Michael Phelps and I still try to keep in touch with my boxing teammates…I’m blessed.”

On September 17 2008 O’Connor dropped the amateur badge and set out on the professional boxing circuit. Danny’s first fight as a pro took place at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire against Jose Guerrido. The crowd in Manchester was sent into frenzy when O’Connor devastated Guerrido with body shots throughout the fight, resulting in Guerrido’s trainer waiving the white flag for the fight to stop at the 1:55 mark of the second round.

From that point, including the Guerrido bout, O’Connor strung together 14 straight victories with a decisive fight against the undefeated Gabriel Bracero (14-0-0) on April 8 2011. The fight was being showcased nationally on Showtime and O’Connor felt this was the turning point in his career. Danny trained harder than he ever did for any fight up to this point, and his soul mate, Diane Swartzwelder, recently gave birth to their first son, Liam. Needless to say, the Irish southpaw saw all his trials and tribulations coming to fruition on that very night. Only problem was, his body didn’t necessarily agree with him that “tonight was the night.” Shortly before O’Connor proceeded out of the locker room to the ring, he began spitting up blood. Bracero ended up dominating the match in commanding fashion after the eight-round-fight, scoring the unanimous decision over the bloody O’Connor. Everything was heading in the right direction for the favored O’Connor, but an unlucky bill of health on that night left the boxer with many questions. O’Connor was down in more ways than one, as he questioned where to go, if anywhere, in his career. As the questions spiraled around inside, O’Connor went through several tests to determine his ill bill of health, and the result was an ulcer that left him anemic. Coupled with serious health complications, Danny also needed to repair a shattered nose from the fight with Bracero.

“I just had a son, he was only a month old, and it should have been my time to shine. A lot of people ask me what I would have done different. It was just the way the cards folded. I know I needed to get paid because rent and bills were due, so I had to fight regardless. I knew I was off, I knew spitting up dark blood was a problem, but I had to fight.”

Occasionally forgotten in O’Connor’s lowest point of his career was how Diane was coping with her fallen fighter. Any great fighter needs a good support system and someone who can recognize the difference between nurturing and motivation. In the “O’Connor Clan,” Danny may be the Ying, but Diane is definitely his Yang.

“Nobody can understand how low I was after that loss, except Diane. I trained like a monster, I built this brand, I answer e-mails…I do everything because every day I have to wake up and look in Liam and Diane’s eyes and know everything I’m doing will pay off one day. It’s a team effort, if it wasn’t for Diane fully supporting everything I’m doing, if it wasn’t for her, I don’t know if I ever would have got back in the ring…She ended the pity party. She basically sent me a text saying you’ve come this far and if you want to give up, you’re giving up on us.”

Naturally, with an immense will that O’Connor possesses inside, by the help of his soon-to-be-wife, Diane, he sought redemption. Watching on that night was glorified trainer, Ronnie Shields, who O’Connor respected in the boxing ranks like no other. O’Connor reached out to Edwin Rodriguez, one of Shields’ clients in hopes of latching on with the trainer (whose resume included the likes of Tyson and Holyfield) and Shields made a deal with the Framingham native, “Move down to Texas.” From that point, Danny made the toughest decision of his life; “Pulling a Rudy” as he refers to it, by giving Diane all the money he saved and flew down to Houston, Texas on a one-way-ticket. It didn’t get any easier for O’Connor who lived in a low income studio apartment in a heavily populated Mexican population. As a result of living in the troubled area, O’Connor sought ways to avoid the area during his free time.

“Being alone was tough; I used to take a bus to the nice part of the Mall to kill off a days worth of time so I could avoid the ghetto.”

Eventually, Danny figured out a way to cope with his surroundings through the education of coach Ronnie Shields, who O’Connor credits his success to, in and out of the ring. O’Connor arrived as a close-guarded, unconfident person, and Shields made it an immediate goal to overthrow those ways. Just asking the twenty-seven-year-old about his trainer, his eyes open with excitement, eager to tell you how great of an influence Shields has been on him.

“Whenever I’m around Ronnie, inside the gym or out, I know I’m learning and bettering myself as a person or fighter. I think people are in different types of situations where they can’t see how important things are to them, but I’m totally aware of how important Coach Ronnie is to me, I thank him every single day. I may be the man in the ring, but there’s no me without Coach Ronnie.”

After wrapping up his training and returning home to New England, O’Connor is 3-0 with two KO’s and one unanimous decision. The most recent fight came on May 24 2012 against New York native, Daniel Sostre, which NESN televised a couple weeks later. O’Connor not only won via TKO after Sostre threw in the towel after four rounds, but displayed his best fight of his career in front of the Beantown faithful. The event was organized by Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys and recently, O’Connor’s Manager, who hope to make Boston a prominent spot for boxing. The event was comprised of many local dynamics, such as the National Anthem sang by Rene Rancourt, and Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton walking Danny O down to the ring. The event didn’t bring out just the casual New Englander, as Patriots Wide Receivers Julian Edelman and Brandon Lloyd took in the action from the front row as well.

“My fan family is my support and additional motivation for me. I always make myself readily available for them. I’m up at 5:00am answering emails, tweets, and text messages, but it’s always me personally responding. I do it because I read the Josh Hamilton book when I was down in Texas on hard times and I wrote Josh a truly, heartfelt e-mail but he probably never got it. There’s no chance there will ever be anyone other than me responding to my fans, I love all my fans.”

As the O’Connor train moved forward after the House of Blues Fight Night, Danny & Diane couldn’t hold back their love any longer. In today’s world, materialistic possessions tend to lead ones actions in life but not O’Connor and Swartzwelder. In an act everyone could learn from, the two went to a 25-cent vending machine and used the rings that surfaced, proving love is free. The ceremony was at the Capital Grille, with Ken Casey and his wife as the witnesses and got married by the Justice of the Peace.

Many probably wonder how Danny got involved with the Dropkick Murphys but Murphys fans probably have it figured out. Just like the blue-collared Irish band that started from scratch and worked their way up to the top of the music industry, they see O’Connor as someone cut from the same cloth. Casey, an avid boxing fan, works as the mastermind promoter behind the “O’Connor Clan” brand and first met O’Connor through the band’s charity fund, The Claddagh Fund. Besides a mutual respect for each other’s work, the two would like nothing more than to generate a strong following of avid boxing fans in the area.

“Bringing the sport of boxing back to Boston and New England and having people excited about me or my fight nights is something I really get excited about. New Englanders marking down my fights on their calendar, looking forward to my events like they do for other sporting events in the area is something I strive to build.”

The softer side of O’Connor wishes his son Liam would use the golf clubs he puts in his hand, but Dad usually finds his son with gloves on, hitting a punching bag. In Danny, you won’t find a more down-to-earth athlete who simply loves his sport and the fans who support him. The once-troubled teen tells stories of his wild younger years, his dark times as a boxer and where he’s at now not because he’s pompous, because he cares about his fans so greatly, that if one was to get into boxing, they would know what they’re in store for.

“Boxing is a really tough way to make a living. Amateurs might be a little different, whether you can work a job and you’re doing it for fun. But to actually have boxing as a profession is really a tough way to make a living. You are getting punched in the face every day, to make a paycheck when you fight. I fought at the House of Blues, but the last time I fought before that was October. How can you live off that? I think you put all that stuff aside to follow the hopes and dreams you set out to do, but the grass is always greener on the other side if you believe it will work because it has to work out. There’s always life after boxing and I’m hoping I can open some doors while doing what I love and when I retire, I’d love to be an Awareness Addiction counselor, helping young kids.”

Danny won’t hold any grudges for those who may not be familiar with him; he’s use to it. O’Connor believes that “Old-fashioned hard work, desire, and dedication are how results are rendered.” All he asks for in return is your support like his growing fan base provides because he’s not slowing down anytime soon.

“I’m still going, but that’s the thing that I like. I’ve been underrated or overlooked since the second I put on a pair of gloves but I just keep proving people wrong and I don’t ever plan to stop.”

You can follow all the latest Danny O’Connor news at dannyoconnorboxing.com and on Twitter by following @DOC_Boxing.