Spike O’Sullivan v David Lemieux upgraded to OFFICIAL World Title Final Eliminator
It had previously been described as a de-facto final eliminator but now it’s official – the winner of Spike O’Sullivan v David Lemieux will be mandatory for the victor of the Gennady Golovkin v Canelo Alvarez rematch.
O’Sullivan [28(20)-2(1)] and Lemieux [39(33)-4(2)] clash in one of the chief supports of the WBA-WBC middleweight title clash on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and it was confirmed tonight that their fight has been made a WBA World Title Final Eliminator.
The news was announced at the start of a fiery press conference in Sin City where Cork’s O’Sullivan verbally lacerated Canadian 29-year-old Lemieux.
READ: Spike O’Sullivan rips into David Lemieux
The fight being made a WBA final eliminator is a move which makes sense. Mahon 33-year-old O’Sullivan is ranked #3 with the body and Lemieux is #4. Above them, #2 Rob Brant is set to challenge ‘regular’ beltholder Ryota Murata next month while #1 Alvarez will be looking to win the title in the main event this weekend.
There is already a mandatory for the belts currently held by Kazakh knockout king Golovkin – with American Jermall Charlo being the WBC next-in-line.
The Texan claimed this position last year with an easy stoppage of an injured Jorge Sebastian Heiland in New York and, with Golovkin being held to a controversial draw by Canelo in their first fight, Charlo went on to win an ‘interim’ WBC belt versus Hugo Centeno Jr in April to facilitate the rematch.
28-year-old Charlo [27(21)-0] will no doubt argue his claim for first shot at the winner of the HBO pay-per-view broadcast clash, which will be aired on eir Sport in Ireland.
Regardless of who goes first, however, the winner of O’Sullivan v Lemieux will be safe in the knowledge that they will be guaranteed a shot at a world title in 2019.