CORK middleweight Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan remains hopeful that he will fight Chris Eubank Jr at Wembley Arena on Saturday, May 9.
Speaking exclusively to The Irish Post at Brixton Academy ahead of the Dropkick Murphys gig on Saturday night, O’Sullivan revealed that he and his promoter, Ken Casey, have agreed their side of the deal for the fight, but an official announcement is being held up by Eubank.
“I think it will happen,” O’Sullivan said. “I think it should, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t. Frank Warren believes it will sell out Wembley Arena, no problem.
“The only problem is the Eubanks. It’s very apparent that they are scared; it’s very obvious to everybody. I think I will beat him in devastating fashion and destroy his career. I don’t blame him for being so apprehensive.
“I haven’t liked him since he came on the scene. I used to actually like his father; I thought he was a great entertainer.
“But you’ve got to be yourself; he has just taken somebody else’s image. I don’t go out on the stage and pretend to be Ken Casey, I go out there and I’m Spike O’Sullivan.”
O’Sullivan added: “They’ve been avoiding this fight for a long time. The minute I got the agreement to fight Anthony Fitzgerald in Dublin on Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom show back in November, Eubank Jr then said he’d fight me before that fight, which I couldn’t do.
“Then he tried to make up a story to the media saying that I wouldn’t fight him which wasn’t the case at all. He tried to save face basically, so that’s the big issue there.”
Following a devastating knock out performance against Fitzgerald, O’Sullivan has found it difficult to get fights in Europe and has since signed for Murphys Boxing which is headed by Casey, who is also the bass guitarist and one of the lead singers for the Boston punk band.
O’Sullivan, 30, believes he will become a world champion and would like to face WBO champion Andy Lee or the WBA champion Gennady Golovkin. “Ken is looking after me now and in fairness, he is a man of his word. He’s a really nice guy and really good to work with.
“He’s promoting me very well; I don’t think any other promoter could promote me as well. He has me going out on stage at Dropkick Murphys gigs. I had thousands of new T-shirts made and they sold out in two nights which is crazy.
“I believe that I can become champion of the world, no problem. I think Ireland could possibly have three or four world champions. We’ve got two at the moment in Andy Lee and Carl Frampton. I think I could win another version of the middleweight title. We could have two Irish world champions at middleweight and then maybe Andy and I could have a unification bout.”
O’Sullivan would love to fight for a world title in Cork. There hasn’t been such a high profile battle in Cork since Steve Collins beat Eubank Sr in 1995. “When Steve Collins and Eubank fought the first time it was in Millstreet, but the second fight was at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, which is actually a 10 minute walk from where I grew up. I was at that fight.
“I always said from day one, since I started out, that I my dream has always been to walk home with the world title over my shoulder. It is becoming even more realistic and I can’t wait.
“Andy is a great guy, lovely guy outside of the ring and I’m delighted he won a world title. I look at him and believe that I will become champion of the world also.
“Promoter Lou DiBella was very impressed by my performance in Madison Square Garden recently when I beat Milton Nunez. He has since sent me messages congratulating me on my engagement. I got on quite well with him and he was very eager to have me back again. He’s got Andy Lee in his stable of fighters.
“Golovkin likes to fight in New York, I think. I’d love to fight him in the Garden. There’s a big buzz about boxing at the moment, particularly in the middleweight division. It’s pretty exciting.”
