Heavyweight Kevin Nagle (1-0, 1 KO), fighting out of Scituate (MA), has certainly taken a circuitous route to professional boxing.
The 39-year-old Nagle will be in action Saturday night, June 10th, in a four-round match against Reinaldo Souza (0-1) on the “Fight Night at the Vets Club” card, presented by Granite Chin Promotions’ (GCP), at the Veterans Club in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Nagle, who started boxing when he was 10, made his professional debut this past February in Melrose (MA), stopping Aquilla Prote in the second round.
Boxing was put to the side by Nagle when he played high school football at South Shore Regional Vocational Technical, and then while he played rugby after he graduated from high school, prior to him joining the National Guard at 20 and going to boot camp.
He wanted to pick up boxing again upon his return home from camp and reconnected with some of his coaches from his early days at the Pembroke Boxing Club, after which he started training at the famed Petronelli Gym in Brockton. Kevin had a brief amateur boxing career, highlighted by him reaching the semifinals of the New England Golden Gloves.
In 2006, he was deployed to Kosovo and then he volunteered for a six-months stint in Iraq when his company was deployed there. Once his National Guard commitment was fulfilled, he joined Local 223 as a laborer.
Later, he took CNA classes and Kevin was responsible for dementia care at the Veterans Administration (VA). He attended nursing school and has been a psychiatric nurse for the past eight years at the Brockton VA.
Nagle wanted to box again and after local boxer/trainer Mark DeLuca hooked him up in 2014 with Steve Vukosa (14-1-1, 5 KOs), a former New England Heavyweight Champion, and Kevin has been Steve’s primary sparring partner ever since
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But why did it take so long for Nagle to join pro boxing’s ranks?
“I had kids, and my wife didn’t let me fight,” Nagle explained. “When we separated, my first call was to Steve, not a lawyer, and I told him it was time to get back into boxing and I needed to get into shape. Steve introduced me to (promoter) Chris Traietti, who I had watched fight, and he said he’d get me one fight. Boxing has helped me be focused with all I’m going through.
“My goal with Steve was for me to go pro. I wanted to accomplish that for my kids and accomplished it. Anything that happens now in boxing is like having a cherry on top. I wanted to show my kids that I didn’t give up on my dream. I wanted to be a soldier and did that, too. My overall goal is to work my way up to a competitive fight. I’m just a crazy, old guy working in the gym with Steve and Martin Grealish. This experience is keeping me centered, I’m not trying to take over the boxing world.”
“When Steve Vukosa first approached me about Kevin turning pro,” Traietti added, “I didn’t really take it overly serious at first, but I knew Kevin. I sincerely liked him on a personal level, so I gave him a call and we chatted. Once he told me about his current situation, I knew he was serious, and this was important to him. He is 39 years old and doesn’t have any aspirations of some long career, but he wants an opportunity to get on a big card and get the experience of fighting on a national stage. Fortunately, for him, that is exactly what I can do for my guys. The plan is to keep him active in 2023 with a handful of fights and get him the big experience he is looking for in 2024.”
Julien “Black Dragon” Baptiste (4-2, 2 KOs), of Woburn (MA), and New Hampshire’s Ryan Thomas Clark (2-3. 1 KO) throwdown in the six-round main event for the vacant United States Boxing Federation (USBF) middleweight title.
Also slated to fight on the “Fight Night at the Vets Club” are former New England Welterweight Champion Mike “Bad Man” Ohan, Jr. (17-2, 9 KOs), of Holbrook (MA), vs. William Parra Smith (4-14-1, 3 KOs) in an eight-round bout; unbeaten Lynn (MA).super middleweight James “Pitbull” Perkins (11-0-1, 8 KOs) vs. TBA in a six-rounder; and Boston lightweight Arika Skoog (1-0-1, 1 KO), the 2020 USA Boxing Elite National and multiple New England Golden Gloves champion, vs. Sarah “Switch Kick” Click (1-4-1).
Card subject to change.
Tickets are priced at $60.00 (floor seats), $40.00 (standing room only), and $400.00 for ringside tables of 4 are available for purchase at https://granite-chin-promotions.ticketleap.com.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. ET, first bout at 7 p.m. ET.