Spike backs Lee to beat Saunders by stoppage

Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan believes he will be calling out Andy Lee on September 19.

The Cork middleweight hopes to appear on the undercard of the massive Thomond Showdown’ card and has said he will call out the winner of the WBO middleweight title fight.

And the Celtic Warrior Gym puncher and NABA USA Champ thinks Limerick’s Lee will retain his title and will be the name on his lips late on that anticipated Saturday night.

‘Spike’ feels Lee might have too much power for his friend, former opponent and former sparring partner and feels a late stoppage could be on the cards.

“I don’t think he has the power, no, to be honest,” O’Sullivan told the 42. “Billy Joe might take the earlier rounds but the only way he’ll win the fight is on points. Chris Eubank Jr was the only one who really pushed Billy Joe and he got tired towards the end. If he tires like that against Lee, he’ll be punished.

“I’ve sparred with both of them and obviously fought Billy Joe as well. With them both being southpaws, I think it might be a bit cagey; similar to the Andre Dirrell versus James DeGale fight.

“In fights like that, they can take a while to feel each other out. Sometimes that doesn’t always make for a very good fight when you have two skilled southpaws trying to work each other out. It usually makes for a bad fight.

“Lee is after showing that he can land the punches. Billy Joe is a proud fella and he’s very tough, but I could see Andy Lee getting a knockout in the later rounds. Lee has proven that he’s got the one-punch knockout power to do that.”