“I rolled the dice” – Spike O’Sullivan reveals he rejected Golden Boy deal

Gary O’Sullivan [24(16)-2(1)] received a tempting offer before his last fight.

The Cork middleweight was offered a three-fight TV deal with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions – but O’Sullivan would turn it down.

Why? Confidence in himself and the belief that he will now be offered an even bigger deal.

“I rolled the dice,” explained O’Sullivan to Irish-Boxing.com.

“I was offered a three-fight deal with Golden Boy, fights on ESPN, but I turned it down. Now after that performance they’re going to want me back and will have to have a bigger offer.”

O’Sullivan is describing his four-round demolition of Nick Quigley in Boston last month.

The Leesider topped a Golden Boy on ESPN card at the House of Blues and put on a door-opening performance against the Liverpudlian.

Looking better than he perhaps ever has, O’Sullivan tore into Quigey from the opening bell. Throwing an amazing 370 shots in the ten or so minutes of action (and landing at an impressive 41%), ‘Spike’ hurt his opponent in the first and third rounds before referee Arthur Mercante Jr pulled Quigley out in the fourth to protect the brave Scouser from himself.

“I broke his ribs and his nose in the opening round, but he kept going. He was a gentleman and I think the referee made the right decision to stop the fight and protect him,” mused O’Sullivan as he looked back on the fight.

“I’ve had a lot of big nights, fighting a current world champion, fighting on Box Office, fighting on Sky, even winning and defending the Irish title, but I think that was my biggest win.”

O’Sullivan was fit, strong, and so much busier than in previous fights. The Mahon man stressed that his prior claims of having turned a corner in training were true as he looks to make one final push for big fights.

“I’ve always been a lazy bastard,” admits O’Sullivan. “But I’m 33 now, I don’t have long left, and I want to make a real go of it.”

“I used to always rely on my power, but now I’m adding more strings to my bow with my fitness.”

“I felt like I was only just warmed up in the fourth [v Quigley], I could have kept going for the full ten.”

While Golden Boy’s WBO light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto now looks set to face Sadam Ali in a farewell fight in December, O’Sullivan is keen to be the man to send the Puerto Rican into retirement.

“I want Cotto, he has one fight left, and I’d go down to light middle and fight him.”