“Why not?” – Jason Quigley backs Spike O’Sullivan for Golovkin fight

They’ve been linked with each other in the past but Jason Quigley has his fingers crossed for fellow Irish middleweight Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan.

The ambitious Donegal fighter hopes the Cork puncher secures a clash with ‘one of the best middleweights of our time’ in Gennady Golovkin [37(33)-0-1].

O’Sullivan [27(19)-2(1)] looks to be the front-runner to replace Quigley’s Golden Boy stablemate Canelo Alvarez and take on the Kazakh unified middleweight champion in Las Vegas on Saturday May 5th.

With the fight being on the Mexican holiday of Cinco De Mayo, Team Golovkin were keen on light middleweight prospect Jaime Munguia. However, this mooted foe has been rejected by the Nevada Athletic Commission and Spike has re-emerged as the favourite to face GGG.

An announcement could be made as early as today and Quigley, who has big-time ambitions himself and has no problems mentioning Golovkin as a potential future foe, is hoping Spike will man the away corner come May 5th.

“It’s sad for boxing fans that Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has withdrawn from the rematch with ‘GGG’, but I’ve heard that Spike O’Sullivan could be in the running to fight Golovkin now, and I really hope he does receive that opportunity,” Quigley [14(11)-0] stated in his regular Sky Sports column.

The legitimacy of O’Sullivan as an opponent for the fearsome Asian fighter has been questioned by some – but Quigley wants his fellow Irishman to get the chance in what is the eleventh year of his pro career.

“Spike has served his time and why not fight one of the best middleweights of our time? I hope he gets it and does Ireland proud,” added the Ballybofey man – who was one of the chief sparring partners for David Lemieux when the Canadian took on Golovkin and is currently a team-mate of WBO champion and O’Sullivan conqueror Billy Joe Saunders.

Quigley is currently back home after scoring a sixth-round knockout of Daniel Rosario at the weekend, marking a return from long-term hand injury and his first fight under Sheffield’s Dominic Ingle.

The former Elite amateur and O’Sullivan had been talked about in relation to each other in the past – with Spike’s four-fight TV deal with Golden Boy increasing the presumed likelihood, while Gabriel Rosado was also mentioned in the same conversations.

However, these thoughts were extinguished over the past few months as O’Sullivan’s standing rose exponentially, first when he upset touted prospect Antoine Douglas, and then when he was lined up as Canelo Alvarez’s next opponent – before the ongoing situation with Golovkin.