New Year’s Resolutions: Spike O’Sullivan ready for rankings return

Spike O’Sullivan [23(15)-2(1)] was restricted to just one fight last year, but the Cork middleweight is now ready for a much more active 2017

A perforated eardrum sustained against Chris Eubank Jr led to a sustained period on the sidelines and then a shock loss for potential opponent Anthony Ogogo meant O’Sullivan only got in eight rounds of competitive ring action throughout the whole year

While frustrating, O’Sullivan remains in typically good spirits and refuses to dwell on the past year, instead continuing to focus on the top echelons of the sport.

The Leesider told Irish-Boxing.com that “2016 was an inactive year for me as I needed to be sure I could continue to box. I had my ear drum burst against Eubank and it took a while to heal. Then I had to get back into shape to fight again as I wasn’t really training for a few months after the Eubank fight.”

“Thankfully I got a good win under my belt before the year ended against a former WBC World Youth Champion [Jaime Barboza].”

Going forward, the big-punching, well-known 32 year old still holds world title ambitions and the Murphys Boxing fighter hopes to move into contention with a rankings title win, perhaps in his next fight – which is scheduled for March 18th at the House of Blues in Boston.

O’Sullivan outlined how “I’ll continue to pursue my dream and become middleweight world champion. Firstly I need to have a title fight and gain a position to fight for world honours – and then I’d love a war with GGG.”

The majority of his fights take place on the US East Coast, and O’Sullivan has not fought in his home country for over two years – however this may change for the better in 2017. The Munster slugger is thought fondly of by the powers that be at Sky Sports and, should Matchroom return to Ireland in 2017 with Ryan Burnett and/or Katie Taylor, it is reasonable to assume that the Celtic Warriors fighter with feature .

O’Sullivan concurs, and described how “I love fighting in Ireland, and on Sky, as well as doing business with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom – they’re very good to deal with. For sure that could very well happen.

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Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey look ahead to 2017 in episode 1 of The Irish Boxing Show