Answering the bell

Retirement didn’t last long for Jimmy Nolan.

It was 14 months, to be exact.

Moments after scoring a knockout in his first professional boxing match on Feb. 16, 2005, Nolan, the head football coach at Laguna Beach High, announced his retirement from the ring.

Nolan revealed his somewhat-surprising decision during a news conference following his knockout of John Huskey of Moore, Okla.. The four-round, middleweight bout played out before a standing-room-only crowd at the “Battle of the Ballroom” at the Irvine Marriott.

But Nolan, 32, recently said that he will step into the ring again. His next boxing match, he said, will be held in late-May or June. He said that the fight “could be” an undercard of a big event at Staples Center, or be at the Irvine Marriott again.

“Right now, we are trying to get the best fighter we can find, to fight me,” he said. “I want this to be against all odds. That’s a great feeling for me.”

Nolan also doesn’t know what weight division he’ll fight in. He and his trainer, Frank Rivera, said they are “thinking” the 154-pound class, a light-middleweight, as a possibility.

Nolan said he and Rivera have not begun a training regimen for the upcoming fight.

“I’ll have less than two months to prepare, but that’s a month longer than last year,” he said. “Plenty of time.”

Nolan will be juggling a schedule that includes coaching the Laguna Beach varsity football team, running his business, Speed Kills, and preparing for his second fight.

He could have stayed out of the ring, retiring undefeated with a modest record of 1-0.

But that’s not Nolan, who played football at Mater Dei and then the University of Utah.

“I promised my family that I would only fight once, because it really depressed them knowing I was going to fight,” Nolan said. “They’ve seen what I’ve been through on the football field. They know I am lucky to still be walking. So, when I decided to compete again, it scared them. They know I’m like an ‘old racehorse that broke his leg.’

“Now, after months of reasoning with them, they understand why I want to fight again. My family is OK with me competing again. They understand.”

Nolan went into the ring last year with a tender shoulder and Achilles rupture in his leg. He’s still banged up a bit, but will forge on ? again.

“I know I can still compete, despite my handicaps,” he said. “So, that’s what I’m doing, spending it all. No regrets or wasted talent here. It makes me feel alive to have the chance to do something like this. It makes me happy.

“It’s not about the fight itself. It’s about having a goal, sacrifice, discipline, hard work, focus, accountability, consistency, commitment, motivation, mental toughness, health and perseverance through adversity. Sometimes you’ve got to live a little. I choose to live a lot.”

Will he go into retirement again, following his upcoming bout?

“If I can still move, I’ll probably fight again,” he added. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask me after the fight.”cpt.21-spboxing-1-CPhotoInfoK21Q4NQN20060421ixzt7nncMARK C. DUSTIN / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Laguna Beach High School’s head football coach Jimmy Nolan, right, throws a right-handed punch against John Huskey, of Oklahoma, in the third round of the ‘Battle in the Ballroom’ at the Irvine Marriott Hotel. Nolan won his debut fight in the third round.