“Spike” O’Sullivan looks sharp back in the ring

By Matt Thompson at ringside
Photos by Emily Harney

Middleweight contender Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan of Cork, Ireland, outslugged game Costa Rican Jaime Barboza over eight rounds to win a unanimous decision in the main event of a seven-bout Murphys Boxing event at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, NH. Barboza, fighting in the US for the first time, showed up to win, constantly winging overhand rights at the aggressive O’Sullivan. However the body punching O’Sullivan throughout the contest took enough starch out of the wild shots of Barboza to prevent them from doing any damage.

After three one-sided rounds, the initial onslaught of O’Sullivan slowed slightly to an inside slugfest, with both men trying to push the other back. It was the subtle head movement of O’Sullivan and his accuracy that made the difference when he dropped Barboza on the seat of his trunks with a perfectly placed counter right in the sixth. Barboza immediately jumped to his feet, feigning injury, but O’Sullivan stuck to his game plan, stuffing a hard jab in to set up body shots throughout the remainder of the bout.

The scores were 80-71 on one card and 79-72 on the other two. O’Sullivan improves to 23-2 and Barboza drops to 19-9.

In the co-feature, rising jr middleweight star Mark DeLuca of Whitman, MA, remained unbeaten at 16-0, 10 KOs with an impressive unanimous decision over the very determined Matthew Strode of Hickory, NC. Riding a four-fight winning streak after a decade out of the ring, Strode entered the bout with an impressive ledger of 24-2, but the two weight divisions he jumped during his temporary retirement was obvious as DeLuca looked the much bigger and stronger man. Showing patience throughout the bout, DeLuca mixed power with speed to land accurately, dropping Strode in the fourth round, and hurting him again in the fifth. Strode, however, was not interested in leaving early, showing exceptional heart as he fought a determined battle during the last two rounds, landing his own share of shots in spite of the razor-sharp DeLuca controlling the action.

Carlos “The Dragon” Candelario from Lawrence, MA and Michael “Cold Blood” Clark of Columbus, OH, thrilled the audience with an incredibly exciting first round in which Clark took a knee after an initial onslaught by Candelario only to stagger Candelario twice with his own attack in the last minute of the round. Both men stood their ground and fired nothing but power shots throughout the opening stanza as the crown cheered in appreciation. As the second round started, Clark landed a right high on Candelario’s head. Immediately after landing the punch, Clark turned away and clutched his right hand. Referee Mike Ryan sent Candelario to the neutral corner while ringside physician Ryan Claussen examined Clark. After consulting with the Dr. Claussen, the referee called a halt to the bout due to the injured Clark and awarded Candelario the TKO victory. Candelario improves to 7-1 with 4 KOs while Clark drops to 44-17.

FightNews was informed by Clark’s manager that the veteran suffered a fractured wrist.

Cruiserweight Steve “The Wolf” Collins, Jr of Dublin, Ireland, remained unbeaten at 9-0-1 (4 KOs) with a stunning second round knockout of Christiano Pedro (1-1) of Lewiston, ME. Pedro, looking fit and solid, came out aggressively, trying to bomb the son of former World middleweight and super middleweight champ Steve Collins from the opening bell, but the young prospect kept his cool, moving away from Pedro’s looping right hands, eventually landing a clean counter right on the chin which buckled the knees of Pedro. Collins stepped over without delay for the finishing left hook, dropping Pedro on his face for the count. The Irishman has now made four appearances in the Boston area where his father still has a following from his days fighting out of the Petronelli Gym in Brockton, MA.

Matt Probin of Lewiston, ME, evened up his record at 1-1 with a four round split decision over Anthony Everett (1-4) of Lawrence, MA. Everett, the much taller man, showed good skills in the first round, narrowly outboxing Probin, but by the second, the determined Probin pressed a body attack, and closed the gap enough to put himself in range for clean combination punching and right counters over Everett’s low jab. Both fighters fought hard in a give-and-take fourth round, earning a standing ovation from the crowd and certainly each other’s respect.

New York’s Frederic Julian, improved to 2-0, 1 KO with a clean first round knockout over journeyman Ralph Johnson (2-8) of Worcester, MA in a light heavyweight matchup. Originally from France, now living and training in the Big Apple, Julian showed a great sense of range using a fast jab and perfect foot movement to set up the right cross which sent the 6’4” Johnson crashing to the canvas at 2:35 of the first round. Julian is a former New York Golden Gloves Champ who is trained by the highly respected Simon Bakinde. Unfortunately due to his French Nationality status, Julian was unable to advance to the Olympic Trials where he certainly would have made noise.

Jonathan Perez of Lowell, MA, ran off his second straight 1st round knockout in three weeks time with a 45 second demolition over last minute sub Devon Hester (0-3) of Wilson, NC in a featherweight encounter. Perez, a talented amateur, dropped Hester with a right to the body.

Saturday’s event was part of the Dropkick Murphys Irish Music Festival and promoted by Ken Casey of Murphys Boxing.

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