Thanksgiving Title Tilt for Moore

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Irish Voice Sport

Thanksgiving Title Tilt for Moore

November 15, 2007

By Declan O’Kelly

JAMES Moore will fight for the New York State light middleweight title on November 21 at the Plattduetsche Park Restaurant at Franklin Square on Long Island.

Moore will headline the Thanksgiving Eve fight night, and it looks like his opponent will be the battle tested Thomas Davis (11-5-2) in a ten round contest. The 35-year old from Knoxville Tennessee has had a 10-year career fighting top class boxers like Oscar Diaz, Luis Collazo (who fought Ricky Hatton and Shane Mosley in two of his last three bouts), Joel Julio and Kendall Holt.

Over six foot, the orthodox Davis will be Moore’s tallest opponent as a professional, and with seven KOs on his ledger, including a first round KO of then unbeaten Kendall Holt, Moore will have to be wary.

The Wicklow native has spent the past few weeks in the Poconos preparing for the fight. While there he has been sparring with Yory Boy Campas and Paulie Malignaggi.

“I will be concentrating more on my boxing this time and not get carried away. Davis is a tall lanky fighter with a dangerous right hand. I will have to be very careful with this fella,” the 29-year-old told the Irish Voice.

Moore again experienced difficulty in finding an opponent. Several prospective opponents either agreed and subsequently pulled out, or priced themselves out of the fight.

With Davis, Moore’s manager Brian Burke feels his charge will be challenged. “It’s going to be no walk in the park. Davis has fought virtually all the top guys and is going to be James’ toughest opponent,” said Burke.

“If James boxes the way he can, Davis won’t touch him. If he decides to slug it out it could be a difficult one.”

In his last fight against Chad Greenleaf on October 18, Moore seemed to try and press things a little too much, but aims to implement a different game plan on November 21.

“Davis has been in with some world class operators, so I will have to use my boxing ability and work on combination punching rather than try to land one big punch,” Moore says.

“It should be a great night. It is a great venue. The last time I was there I had a good night and the fans went home happy. I hope for more of the same.”

Also on the card will be super bantamweight Paul Hyland, who will face the Dominican Republic’s Elvis Luciano Martinez (11-23-2).

Martinez was last in action against Gary Stark Junior on October 10, losing a unanimous decision. Hyland, the 9-0 boxer who made his U.S. debut in July, would have been in action far sooner had he not sustained a shoulder injury in sparring.

The problem led the Dubliner to return home to fully rehabilitate, but he is back in the U.S. and has been training hard with Tracy Patterson for the scheduled six round bout.

Also slated to fight is Brooklyn welterweight and former Irish Ropes boxer Martin Wright (4-0-1).

For tickets and information, call 917-559-8467, 845-702-6480 or 718-784-0500.

Meanwhile, light heavyweight Alo Kelly continued his winning ways on Friday night with a unanimous decision victory over William Santiago in Albany, New York. The judges saw Kelly winning this one, 40-36, 39-37 and 39-37.

Though not his greatest performance by any means, Kelly had to leave camp early and finish preparations in New York, so will take the “w” and move on to the next challenge.

“I shook him in every round with the right hand. I thought he might go down but he was tough enough,” Kelly told the Irish Voice.

Kelly was dominant in all rounds except the third, when Santiago had his best three minutes of the fight. The Westmeath native now heads back to camp with John Duddy and trainer Don Turner.

Kelly, who came through Friday unscathed and is now 3-0-1, should be in action again in December. The 29-year-old may feature on the Duddy undercard in Belfast on December 8, but if not will probably round off the year with a fight in New York.

Speaking of rounding off the year, light welterweight Oisin Fagan (20-4) will hope to end 2007 with a bang by winning with the USBA lightweight title. The Oklahoma-based Dubliner will take on Verquan Kimbrough for the vacant belt on December 30 in West Virginia.

In a busy week for Irish fighters, Henry Coyle (3-1) is scheduled to fight a four round light middleweight contest on Friday night in Cicero, Illinois. The Mayo native will fight Michigan’s Guy Packer (2-14-2) and should get some rounds under his belt against the 33-year-old journeyman.

In action Thursday night will be middleweight Andy Lee (12-0), who will fight Brad Austin in Michigan. Also in action tomorrow night is Irish American super-featherweight Danny McDermott (4-0-1), with Lucian Gonzalez (3-4) in the opposite corner for a four round contest in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Finally, the latest forum in the Fighting Irishmen series at the South Street Seaport Museum will take place on November 20. Fighters and families, a discussion on boxing families will include panelists Jay R. Tunney, son of former heavyweight champion Gene; Hall of Fame boxer Billy Conn’s son Tim and New York Times columnist Dave Anderson.

For tickets and information call 212-748-8786 or e-mail reservations@southstreetseaport.org.

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