Exclusive: ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan talks Eubank, WBA title, alligators
Published:
Lee Gormley | November 3, 2015
Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan speaks to Coral
After an ongoing war of words and many months of speculation, Irish middleweight Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan finally landed his man, with a WBA title eliminator clash against rival Chris Eubank Jr scheduled for December 12th.
The Cork-born fighter (22-1, 15 KOs) will take to the O2 Arena ring in London this weekend to end the talking and aim to put the conflict to bed. With only Eubank Jr (20-1, 15 KOs) standing in his way of a world title shot next year, ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan chatted exclusively to Coral regarding his long-standing foe, preparations and his huge support.
‘Spike’ confident of Eubank Jr KO
On the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight encounter with Dillian Whyte, ‘Spike’ will face arguably his toughest test to date in an already impressive professional career, and is 4/1 to inflict defeat on his Brighton-born opposition.
“I just can’t wait to get in the ring and knock him out, and move on for the world title fight,” declared O’Sullivan. “With this fight being made an official WBA world title eliminator, I will be world champion in 2016.”
The ferocious Irishman isn’t short on confidence, but he has good reasoning, having stopped 15 of his 22 victims prematurely so far, and comes into his next bout on the back of five successive knockout victories.
War of words to end
Despite pushing for his Eubank Jr encounter for some time, the 31-year-old was recently questioned by his British opponent as to whether he really wanted to actually make their fight happen. In reply to these uncanny claims, ‘Spike’ hit back by simply laughing off such remarks.
“I think it’s hilarious to be honest, I don’t think he actually believes what he [Eubank Jr] is saying himself some of the time,” continued O’Sullivan.
Although, ‘Spike’ did admit that his opponent does possess a talent for making headlines, along with his father, a former WBO middleweight and super-middleweight champion, but believes that’s where the inherited family attributes stop.
“I’ve got to give it to them, they’re very good show men in fairness,” added O’Sullivan. “But I don’t think the son has it like the father did and I’m sure I will knock him out to prove that.”
Extreme training measures
With the fight swiftly approaching, O’Sullivan’s preparations are done, with testing sparring partners such as former world champion Jermain Taylor, a talented ring veteran rightfully nicknamed ‘Bad Intentions’, having kept ‘Spike’ sharp.
“My training is going excellently,” stated ‘Spike’. “I’ve been having very good sparring sessions with former undisputed middleweight world champion Jermain Taylor, so I’m definitely 100 per cent confident I will knock Eubank out in December and move on for the title fight.”
As well as sparring a former undisputed world champion, the driven Irishman undertook an unorthodox training method in the build-up to his latest match-up, having unusually been wrestling with alligators as part of his preparations.
“Training with the alligators was extremely tough but it’s a truly great physical work out. It’s great for stamina and core work and let’s be honest [Eubank] Jr is no gator, he’s more like a chicken!”
With a world title meeting against current WBA champion Daniel Jacobs, who stopped Peter Quillin in the first round of their recent meeting, awaiting the winner of this London liaison in 2016, ‘Spike’ will be entering the ring with his usual rapturous support from both Ireland-based and British fans.
Massive ‘Spike’ support
‘Spike’ is no stranger to the big stage, having previously emerged victorious on some of the most illustrious boxing platforms worldwide, including Wembley Arena, Madison Square Garden and various venues around Cork and Dublin.
Arriving on British soil, O’Sullivan will be familiar with the O2 Arena, having viciously dispatched Ryan Clark there in the first round of their 2011 encounter, and ‘Spike’ is confident of continuing his connection with fans in Ireland and the UK later this year.
“It’s fantastic to have such incredible home support but I do believe that I’ve got a lot of supporters from the UK as well,” added O’Sullivan.
“And I think I’ll have a lot of the UK people supporting me on the night of the fight in London. I love fighting in England and in my opinion; the massive crowds are right up there as the best boxing supporters in the world right now.”
After dropping no less than four opponents already this calendar year, ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan will now move on to his biggest career test so far against Britain’s middleweight prospect Eubank Jr on December 12th, as he aims to rally towards a world title in typically fierce fashion.
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