O’Sullivan believes he deserves world title shot at 154
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The Irishman is 0-4 in his biggest fights, but says he’ll be better at 154 than he’s been at 160.
If we’re being honest about Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan, the 35-year-old battler from Cork, Ireland, he’s most known for his losses.
O’Sullivan lost to Billy Joe Saunders in 2013, to Chris Eubank Jr in 2015, to David Lemieux in 2018, and to Jaime Munguia in January of this year. The latter three stopped him, and Saunders shut him out over 12 rounds.
But O’Sullivan (30-4, 21 KO) notes that all of those losses came at middleweight, and says he’s really a 154-pound fighter, and he believes he deserves a world title shot in that weight class.
“I stepped up and I fought the likes of Billy Joe Saundes, Chris Eubank Jr, David Lemieux, and Jaime Munguia,” he told Golden Boy’s Jess Rosales. “But they’re all bigger men than me. I’m really a junior middleweight, and I’d like the opportunity to fight for a world title in my weight division. I believe I’ve earned that and I believe I deserve it.”
The claim has to come with an asterisk, as it should be noted that O’Sullivan has only fought a handful of times at 154. He was fighting at 160 before he faced Saunders seven years ago, notably beating Matthew Hall in 2012 for the WBO International middleweight title. And since then, his only fight at 154 came in Mar. 2019, when he stopped Khiary Gray in six rounds in Boston.
O’Sullivan really may be more comfortable at 154, and he’s definitely not a big middleweight, but his career has mostly been spent as a middleweight.
Still, he’s one of many out there taking a poke at WBO junior middleweight titleholder Patrick Teixeira, who — if we’re going to be honest again — is probably seen as one of the most vulnerable world titleholders in all of boxing.
“It’s the fight I want, but I really doubt he’ll be up to it. I’ve seen a fight where he got knocked out by Curtis Stevens,” O’Sullivan said. “I believe I’m a bigger puncher than Curtis Stevens, and certainly enough to take care of Teixeira and become the new junior middleweight champion of the world. I’m confident I can beat him.”
O’Sullivan always knows how to keep himself in the mix, he’s a charismatic and likable guy, always comes to fight, gives a real effort. And with Teixeira (31-1, 22 KO) being seen as so vulnerable, maybe there is a chance O’Sullivan could beat him and claim that elusive world title he’s been chasing for years now.
That said, it’s unlikely to come next or anything. The 29-year-old Teixeira, a Brazilian, has Argentina’s Brian Castano as his mandatory challenger. The two were supposed to fight in April, and most expected Castano would win.