Sparring partner Craig O’Brien confident ‘Spike’ will get the knockout he needs.

Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan believes he needs a knockout to be sure of victory in the first major fight of the year this weekend – and his sparring partner Craig O’Brien is adamant he can get it.

The Rebel County fighter takes on Jaime Munguia in Texas live on DAZN on Saturday night fully aware the odds are against him.

Not only is the Mexican, who like ‘Spike’ has Golden Boy links, an undefeated former light middleweight world champion of note, he is virtually the home fighter, something which has proved beneficial for him before.

Munguia got a very questionable decision when he traded leather with Dennis Hogan back April of this year – and the Cork man seems to have taken note.

Stablemate and chief sparring partner O’Brien confirmed a the knockout is on the agenda and told Irish-boxing.com he is confident it will achieved.

Munguia has predicted the Alamodome hosted clash won’t go the distance, indeed he believes Mexican fight fans will be celebrating victory before four rounds have passed.

O’Brien agrees the fight won’t go the distance, but is adamant it’s his Celtic Warrior stable mate that will be doing the celebrating.

“I have being sparring Spike, he also sparred an undefeated fighter from Sheffield 11-0. He had him over for camp so he is in a great place. Spike has had a brilliant long camp. He is looking really strong and is fully confident he can do the business. He has done it before and I 100% believe he can knock Munguia out on January the 11th. He will do it,” O’Brien told Irish-boxing.com.

Fight week out here in San Antonio Texas great media work out today for @spike_osullivan looking forward to the rest of the week den get to work on Saturday bringing home the big win🥊🥊🇮🇪☘🍀🌿 @packycollins @Irishboxingcom @RTEsport @murphysboxing pic.twitter.com/P2a8n184Ed

— Craig O Brien (@CraigOBrien6) January 8, 2020

Speaking with regard to needing the knockout to win, Spike has said:

“Unquestionably, I need a knockout. He is a Mexican and a super star,” he said when speaking to the respected Seán McGoldrick in the Independent.

“I think if I knock him down in every round but he is able to continue I won’t get the decision.

“There won’t be many there shouting for me, though I expect I will have a few supporters in the sell-out crowd. Brian O’Connor, whose father Dave has sponsored my suits since 2008, lives out there and he is organising a bus for fans,” he adds before suggesting he was surprised to get the fight despite both fighters Golden Boy connections.

“To be honest I wasn’t expecting the fight at all. When I got the call to fight Munguia initially I thought it was for his light middleweight world title,” he said.

“Then I was told he was moving up to middleweight. I did campaign at middleweight for a long time and I believe that this is a fight that I can win.”