Interview: Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan

By Mark Vaz

As Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan prepares for his showdown with Canada’s David Lemieux on the undercard of the GGG-Canelo PPV show Saturday, he took time out of his schedule to talk to Fightnews.com about the opportunity and the rocky road that lead there.

O’Sullivan, who’s fought 12 of his 30 professional fights in the US, has taken an unusual path to the big time.“Many of my fights both here and Ireland, I fought for free,” he explained. “I know a fighter has to build a fan base, and being unknown in the US, I believed if I could just get the opportunity to show my skills and let the fans get to know me, I’d become popular in Boston in spite of not being local. There is a huge Irish and Irish-American population in Boston, so I felt if they saw me often enough, they’d accept me as a Boston fighter as well as an Irish fighter.”

O’Sullivan certainly stuck to his plan, fighting for no purse, and staying with friends when in the US.

“I’ve come to know my friend Mark Porter’s couch quite well,” Spike explained. Porter, a builder from Quincy, MA, originally from Donegal, helped Spike and his trainer Pascal “Packy” Collins get established here in the US, featuring him on the 2 professional shows he promoted in 2008 and 2009.

“I’ve known Spike since he was an amateur, and have been friends with Pascal for years. I’m happy to have been able to help them, Spike’s worked hard and deserved the hand up,” said Porter.

Part of that help was convincing Boston promoter Ken Casey to take a close look at O’Sullivan. That opportunity came in 2014 at Boston’s House of Blues, against tough journeyman Jose Medina. It was Spike’s first fight after losing a 12 round decision to Billy Joe Saunders, a fight in which he suffered a perforated eardrum.

“I wasn’t quite 100 percent for Medina, but the audience liked it,” explained O’Sullivan. The fight was a give and take war, with O’Sullivan emerging victorious both in the ring and with Casey, who saw the potential in O’Sullivan. Part of the attraction was O’Sullivan’s willingness to not demand high purses, but take the right fights to help rebuild his career after the Saunders loss. He was able to do so, becoming a staple on Murphys Boxing shows throughout New England, fighting 8 times in 2 years, all wins with 7 by knockout, the last of which was the TV opener on ESPN, a co-promotion with Golden Boy.

“Another door opened in that fight. I knew who Nick Quigley was, he had a great record and trained very hard for that fight. I knew that was my big chance to impress Golden Boy and a national audience.” Spike made the most of the chance, brutalizing the game Quigley, leaving him a bloody mess in 4 brutal rounds.

“The Quigley win led into the Antione Douglas fight. Nobody thought I had a chance. Even as I was beating him, the commentators talked about what a grand prospect he was,” O’Sullivan explained with a smile on his face. “He was a skilled man, but I wanted the fight more than he did and wore him down.” O’Sullivan knocked Douglas out in the 7th, his first appearance on HBO.

Now, after 10 years as a pro, the investment in himself has paid off. It’s every fighters dream to box on the big stage, and the main supporting bout on GGG-Canelo is as big as it gets.

“I couldn’t be happier,” O’Sullivan explains. “I love the fight, I think our styles match up perfectly to give the fans a brilliant show. Lemieux is strong and has fought top competition, but I will put pressure on him he wont be able to handle for long. I think Antione Douglas would easily beat Lemieux, he’d frustrate him and be too fast for him, and you saw what I was able to do to Douglas.”

O’Sullivan is looking at the fight as the perfect showcase. “It’s never good to give away the plan, but I believe I’m the better, more skilled fighter in all departments. We both hit very hard, but I have the better defense and boxing ability. I’ll not take anything away from him, and I’ve got great respect for everyone that steps in the ring, but the man that wants it more will have his hand raised on Saturday, and that man is Spike O’Sullivan.”