Baseball slugger tries life in ring

Sports

Related Photos

ALLEGRA BOVERMAN/Eagle-Tribune Danver Fabian, shown here on the left playing for Lawrence Legion during a game in July of 2011 against Newton Post 440, will make his boxing debut tonight at the Golden Gloves in Lowell. ALLEGRA BOVERMAN/Eagle-Tribune
Danyer Fabian, in the center, from Lawrence, is making the jump from baseball to boxing. The former Georgetown High and Lawrence Legion baseball player recently left college to pursue a career in the sport with his first bout tonight at the Golden Gloves in Lowell. The "Intenze 978 Boxing Club" owner Jose Madera is on the left and trainer Sean Farley is on right.

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

January 18, 2013

Baseball slugger tries life in ring

Lawrence's Fabian takes shot in debut at Golden Gloves tonight in Lowell

By Hector Longo hlongo@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Fri Jan 18, 2013, 12:17 AM EST

LAWRENCE – A failed class forced Danyer Fabian to trade his batting gloves for boxing gloves.

Lawrence’s Fabian is hoping that one failure might kick-start him on the road to ring success.

Tonight, just two days after his 21st birthday, Fabian takes to the ring at the Lowell Golden Gloves, facing off in the novice 141-pound semifinals.

It is the second Gloves bout of Fabian’s young (5-2) amateur career, a career that began when Fabian’s baseball career ended last spring at NECC.

“I always have like boxing, always watched it, so it was something I wanted to try,” said Fabian, a Georgetown High grad and former state finalist on the diamond there.

“A friend of mine belonged at this gym (Intenze 978 Boxing Club) in Lawrence, so I went to see what it was all about.”

Fabian has been smacking the heavy bag, pounding the pavement with road work and sparring ever since.

He still attends classes in criminal justice at NECC and maintains a job at the local Market Basket, but right now the focus is on boxing, beginning with these Gloves.

“The Gloves are very exciting. I had a fight last Friday, a TKO in the second,” said Fabian. “I loved the atmosphere, loved the venue.”

His trainer, Intenze 978 owner Jose Madera, says that the former infield/outfield prospect shows some promise inside the ropes as well.

“He’s a tough kid, and a pretty good athlete,” said Madera. “And like so many others in our gym, he’s still just learning.”

So far, despite the two slipups, things have gone well for Fabian.

“It keeps me in shape, and I like the competition, so I am going to stick with it as long as I can,” said Fabian. “If I’m good enough to go pro, I will. Who knows, maybe I can make something out of it.”

BOXING MAKING

HUGE COMEBACK

Amateur boxing is red hot in the city of Lawrence with at least three clubs cranking out prospects.

The ring rages hot at Intenze 978 especially.

“We have 60 kids in there some nights working out,” said owner Jose Madera. “At times, we need more room. Most of the kids are boxing. About a dozen are into the MMA, but the rest have come back to boxing.”

The Intenze 978 club will have five fighters in action tonight at the Lowell Golden Gloves, including Fabian.

The others on the card include 20-year-old female, Natalia Espaillat; newcomer Joel Carrasquillo, who will make his ring debut in the other semifinal at 141 pounds; Richie Agostini, who is 2-3 but won the New England Amateur novice title already; and 132-pounder Garry Gigliotti, who makes the move up from the junior ranks.

Hector will fill in info for tickets, location, etc.