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‘Spike’ O’Sullivan ready to make sure he gets the Canelo fight he was close to before Lemieux ‘got lucky’

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Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan claims ‘lucky’ David Lemieux prevented him from a securing a fight with mega star Canelo Alvarez and is determined not to allow Jaime Munguia to do the same.

O’Sullivan, who has always been open about his desire to have a war with Gennady Golovkin and was considered as a ‘GGG’ opponent at one stage, was all but promised a shot at the Mexican superstar if he overcame the Canadian in September of 2018.

The 31-year-old Quebec native put paid to those plans with a first round knockout, although he himself never secured a fight with Golden Boy’s ‘Golden Boy’.

That defeat still rankles with the Cork native and he continually argues he has the beating of ‘lucky’ Lemieux and is keen not to make the same mistake again in Texas this weekend.

READ: Spike O’Sullivan’s promoter confirmed Canelo shot

The 35-year-old takes on Mungiua at the Alamodome live on DAZN and has been told victory over Dennis Hogan’s former opponent will put him on course for a fight with boxing’s biggest cash generator.

“I was close to fighting Canelo [Alvarez], but the [David] Lemieux fight stopped those plans for a bit. I still believe Lemieux got lucky that night. That was a lucky punch. Canelo is still the fight that I want and beating Munguia takes me a step closer in that direction,” O’Sullivan told Fightnews.

The build up to Lemieux fight was bad blood filled, but the Pascal Collins trained fighter is full of respect for Saturday’s foe Munguia.

‘Spike’ has billed the former WBO light middleweight champion as a ‘big test’ and is expecting a war.

“I am here for the big test against Munguia who is a good fighter, a great champion but I have the experience to fight at this level and I’m expecting a war against Jaime,” O’Sullivan added.

That ‘war’ prediction may come from the fact both are come forward fighters, but there is an element of Mexican love when O’Sullivan talks about his next foe.

“Mexicans and Irish, we are known for having big cojones. Conor McGregor is right when he says that Mexicans and Irish are the same in terms of fighting spirit.

“I really appreciate the Mexican boxing style and I grew up watching Morales, [Marco Antonio] Barrera, [Juan Manuel] Marquez, etc.”

The bout is being billed as Munguia’s middleweight debut, but O’Sullivan move up the scales too.

The now super clean living Cork native was establishing himself as a light middleweight contender since the Lemieux reverse, but moves back up to middle for this opportunity.

Discussing the weight he says: “I feel great at 160-pounds and even stronger at this weight, but I feel fine at 154. I’ll be working around both weight classes to seek the best fights available. I thank Golden Boy Promotions because they have been good to me and they look for my best interest.

“Finally, I want to thank all the boxing fans, all the Mexican fans and my Irish fans. I love that Mexican boxing and like I said before, Irish and Mexicans we have a lot in common, don’t miss this fight, it will be a war.”

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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