Championship cheers
Sean O’Grady talks about the first — and last — time a title bout was fought in OKC.
Sean O'Grady remembers all sorts of details from the night of the world championship fight.
The people hustling inside to escape the winter cold. The arena buzzing in anticipation of the main event just as the city had in days leading up to it. The fans encouraging, coaxing, even darn near begging their guy to keep going.
That night has stuck with O'Grady for almost five decades.
"It made such a profound effect on me and my life and my career," the former lightweight boxing champion said.
And it wasn't one of his fights.
O'Grady was just 12 years old when Oklahoma native Brian Kelly fought Bob Foster for the light heavyweight championship of the world. They sparred at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City in 1971.
It was the first time a world title bout was fought in OKC.
The last time, too.
But that may soon change. The World Boxing Organization announced earlier this week that it was bringing its junior welterweight title bout between Oklahoma City boxer Alex Saucedo and reigning champion Maurice Hooker to Oklahoma — and there are lots of folks working behind the scenes to get the fight at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
That would mean Saucedo would fight for a world title only a few miles from where he grew up on the south side of Oklahoma City.
"I'm so excited about this," O'Grady said, likely voicing the feelings of many a boxing fan in the city. "I had to go to Atlantic City and Glasgow, Scotland, to fight for my championships.
"I'm so happy for this kid."
A big reason why is because O'Grady has such strong and powerful memories of what that title bout between Kelly and Foster was like 47 years ago. Foster came into the fight as one of the most successful and feared light heavyweights in boxing.
He had a 45-5 record. A whopping 38 of his wins had been by knockout, but equally impressive was the fact that none of his losses had come against light heavyweights. He had only ever lost to heavyweights while fighting up a weight class.
He was the world champ according to every one of boxing governing bodies except for the World Boxing Association. It stripped him of his title after it said he hadn't defended the belt in a timely manner.
Kelly wasn't nearly as decorated or accomplished as Foster.
A native of Cushing, Kelly had played football, even going to Tulsa on scholarship. But after his football days were over, he focused on boxing. By the time he faced Foster a decade or so later, Kelly had a record of 39-4 and had won 23 consecutive fights.
Still, Foster was a heavy favorite. Not only was he more successful and seasoned, but he also had advantages in height by 5 inches and reach by 7 inches.
Some boxing types wondered if Kelly would survive even a few of the scheduled 15 rounds.
O'Grady, who had moved to Oklahoma City only a year or so earlier, understood the uphill battle as well as anyone. His dad, Pat, was a boxing trainer, and his mom, Jean, did promotions in the sport. Sean was around the sport from a young age, so he appreciated how good Foster was.
But he wanted so badly for Kelly to win.
"This guy Kelly was just such a neat person," O'Grady said. "He was a clean-living guy. He was the nicest person — until the bell rang." Then?
"He was the meanest, dirtiest, orneriest, most competitive boxer."
O'Grady's dad helped train Kelly a bit in the days leading up to the fight, and that gave Sean a chance to get to know the boxer even better.
By the time the fight rolled around, O'Grady was running around his house on NW 23rd Street, dreaming and exclaiming, "And the new light heavyweight champion of the world, Brian Kelly!"
The front-page headline on Dec. 16, 1971, the day of the fight, hinted at the unlikeliness of a victory for Kelly.
"For Kelly a Dream, For Foster a Fight," it read.
Early in the bout, Kelly managed to avoid the first six punches that Foster threw. Good thing, too. Muhammad Ali once said that Foster had "the punch of a mule."
But on the seventh attempt, Foster landed a punch.
Not long after, Foster knocked Kelly to the canvas. He would go down three times in the first three rounds.
Each time he did, the fans inside State Fair Arena tried to will him to his feet. They cheered. They clapped. They cajoled.
"It was like the whole crowd had a mission," O'Grady said. "The mission was for their guy Brian Kelly to beat this awesome fighter."
But the third time Foster knocked down Kelly, it took him until the count of eight to get off the canvas. When he did, referee Earl Keel said, "He was incoherent." Kelly disputed that, but Keel called the match.
Foster had won by technical knockout in only three rounds.
"Kelly fought his heart out," O'Grady said. "My gosh, he put his heart into that fight."
It took nearly half an hour for Kelly to get from the ring to his dressing room after the fight was over because of all the well-wishers. They wanted to shake his hand. Pat his back. Hug his neck.
O'Grady knows boxing is in a different place now than it was in those days. Ditto for Oklahoma City. Because the sport has declined for all sorts of reasons and because the city has matured for all sorts of reasons, a world championship bout here in 2018 won't have nearly the gravitas that one had in 1971.
But maybe when Saucedo and Hooker meet there will be a kid in the arena who is captivated. Perhaps he'll want to fight on that worldchampionship stage one day, too. And maybe, just maybe, he'll remember the details of that night nearly 50 years later.
That's what happened to Sean O'Grady.
That's why he's pushing hard for that November fight to be in OKC.
"I'm just elated that we're even in the running," he said. "I'm going to do everything I can to get this to happen here."