Rosado a no-go: New opponent for Spike O’Sullivan’s ESPN fight in Boston
Spike O’Sullivan [25(17)-2(1)] has been hit by a change of opponent for his headline fight in Boston at the end of the month.
The Cork middleweight looked set to face two-time world title challenger and big American name Gabriel Rosado. Talks were said to be at an advanced stage, but negotiations for the Saturday September 30th fight date have broken down.
33 year old O’Sullivan will still fight on this date, will still headline the Golden Boy/Murphys Boxing card at the House of Blues, and will still be shown live via ESPN Deportes, but his opponent will now be Liverpudlian Nick Quigley [15(3)-2(1)].
The Scouser, who turns 29 this month, has had an extremely stop-start career, and has not fought in over 18 months.
Quigley was defeated in the final of Prizefighter light middleweights by Robert Lloyd Taylor back in 2011. The following year he was stopped in the ninth by Erick Ochieng in an English title fight. Quigley then spent three years on the sidelines, with medical officials refusing to clear him to fight. He finally returned in 2015 and had four fights in the space of a year on the Malta Boxing Commision circuit.
Quigley’s younger brother Johnny fought O’Sullivan’s former gym mate Jono Carroll during the summer in Belfast, with the Irishman coming out on top after a breath-taking twelve rounds.
The Englishman’s last fight actually came against another Irish fighter, with him knocking out Belfast journeyman Phillip Townley in Bradford in February 2016.
Leesider O’Sullivan has fought twice so far this year, both in Boston, stopping Ronald Montes in the third at the House of Blues back in March and following this up with a crunching second round knockout of Chauncey Fields in May at the Plainville Casino.
2011 European gold medalist Ray Moylette appear on the undercard in four weeks time, while 2014 Commonwealth bronze medalist Connor Coyle may also feature.
