Danny O'Connor Wins in Mass.

New York, NY/Foxborough, MA (8/13/12) -Last night before a raucous local crowd, Framingham welterweight Danny O'Connor scored a dominant fourth round TKO over Providence's Eddie Soto in the first live boxing event to be held at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The card, promoted by DiBella Entertainment, Ken Casey and the Drop Kick Murphys and Warriors Boxing, was staged immediately following the ending of the MLS Soccer game featuring the New England Revolution.

The atmosphere from the soccer game carried over and then some for the boxing event as thousands of fans packed the stadium concourse to watch the live action. O'Connor, thanks to new manager Ken Casey, the lead singer for the popular band Drop Kick Murphys, has begun to accrue somewhat of a rock star following known as the “O'Connor Clan” and they were in full force last night. As soon as O'Connor began his ring walk, the crowd went into a frenzy chanting his name to the beat of Irish drums.

O'Connor, who has been working with renowned trainer Ronnie Shields for his past four fights, wasted little time in showing that he was simply in a different class than the tough Soto.

O'Connor worked behind his jab and patiently stalked Soto around the ring, mixing in good combinations to both the body and head. The lessons he has learned from Shields are becoming more and more evident in each outing, as O'Connor is now sitting down on his shots and throwing punches with bad intentions.

Near the end of the first frame, a five-punch combination dropped Soto to the canvas and sent the O'Connor Clan into an uproar. Soto beat the count easily, but it was evident that he was going to be in for a tough night.

Rounds two and three saw more of the same, as O'Connor continued to systematically break down the Puerto Rican. In the fourth, O'Connor picked up the pressure and dropped Soto again, but this time he was in far worse condition. With the referee hovering over him and counting, Soto's corner mercifully threw in the towel, giving O'Connor the TKO victory at 1:09 of the fourth round. With the win, O'Connor improved his record to 18-1, 7 KO's.

O'Connor will quickly return to action on September 29, as part of the undercard to the DiBella Entertainment-promoted HBO “Boxing After Dark” tripleheader to be held at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods. Headlining the card is O'Connor stable-mate, Edwin Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KO's), who takes on fellow undefeated super middleweight Jason Escalera (13-0-1, 12 KO's).