Fagan outlines title plans

15 July 2008 – by Mark Doyle

Oisin Fagan has revealed that he will first challenge for the NABA title before colliding with Irish lightweight and light-welterweight champion Andrew Murray later in the year.

Fagan was less than impressed with his own performance in Saturday night’s points win over Konstantin Sakara in a 6-rounder on the undercard of Bernard Dunne’s clash with Damian David Marchiano in Dublin, a bill which also featured Murray.

However, the Dubliner, who is now based in Oklahoma City, believes it will not be long before he has a few belts around his waist.

“My timing wasn’t great tonight. I missed with a lot of shots,” he lamented.

“I wasn’t able to spar after sustaining a cut eye a couple of weeks ago and thus, the reason for my bad timing.

“I also caught myself chasing him (Sakara) around the ring, instead of cutting the ring off, which was a little amateurish on my behalf.

“However, I was very anxious to keep on him and not let him off the hook and sometimes I get caught up in the intensity of the fight rather than doing things easy.

“Having said that, a win is a win and that puts me in a commanding position now. I think I will take on Verquan Kimbrough for the NABA title in West Virginia on August 29, which is supposed to be aired as a Main Event on ESPN 2 in the US.

“After that, it looks like Andy Murray and myself, will get it on for the Irish lightweight title.

“Andy looked great tonight against a tough Peter McDonagh, so I guess that’s the natural fight at domestic level for me now.

“Then, whether I win that or not will determine if I can perhaps look to fight for a European title somewhere down the line.”