By Hesiquio Balderas
Fightnews.com® was able to talk to Irish fighter Spike O’Sullivan today during the media workout. Spike is fighting former WBO 154 world champion Jaime Munguía this Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. “I am here for the big test against Munguía who is a good fighter, a great champion but I have the experience to fight at this level and I’m expecting a war against Jaime,” said O’Sullivan.
“Mexicans and Irish, we are known for having big cojones. Conor McGregor is right when he says that Mexicans and Irish are the same in terms of fighting spirit. I really appreciate the Mexican boxing style and I grew up watching Morales (who now trains Munguia) Barrera, Marquez, etc.
“I feel great at 160 pounds and even stronger at this weight, but I feel fine at 154. I’ll be working around both weight classes to seek the best fights available. I thank Golden Boy Promotions because they have been good to me and they look for my best interest.
“I was close to fighting Canelo, but the Lemieux fight stopped those plans for a bit. I still believe Lemieux got lucky that night. That was a lucky punch. Canelo is still the fight that I want and beating Munguía takes me a step closer in that direction.
“Finally I want to thank all the boxing fans, all the Mexican fans and my Irish fans. I love that Mexican boxing and like I said before, Irish and Mexicans we have a lot in common, don’t miss this fight, it will be a war.”
sorry spike, but you’re in over your head , you will get knocked out
I’m sure that’s what you said about Dennis Hogan who was a sacrificial lamb but ended up beating Munguia but was robbed of a decision.
Experience to fight at but not win at this level.
Spike can still fight and if he gets past the middle rounds may beat Munguia just like Dennis Hogan did but was robbed of a decision.
I give spike a lot of credit he seems to be realistic and carefree which may actually help him here as opposed to being a loud mouthed cocky clown like that over rated classless clown Clarissa shields who eventually will look really bad once she goes up against better fighters which so far there is none out there for her.
O’Sullivan in 2!
Didn’t this guy with “Big Cojones” quit vs Eubank?
I guess he wasn’t Irish then.
Sullivan needs to focus more on his boxing skills and skip the “old-timer-out-dated” moustache.
Mexicans and Irish have big cojones? I guess that is why most champions in higher weight classes for the last 50 years just happen to be black.
Blacks are better athletes in general Lamont.. as everyone knows
Depends on the skill. What is the name of the black Strongest man in the world? Whites dominate NCAA and Olympic wrestling which is way more physically demanding than football or basketball. Whites seem to do better at UFC also. In a nutshell, if it is speed based, bet on black. If it is strength based, bet on white.
3 out the UFC divisions have black champions, so your point is null.
That was before the former Soviet fighters were allowed to turn pro. Look thru the rankings now and count up who dominates the rankings.
Boxing has always been dominated by fighters from poor countries. Blacks have other options like basketball, football, soccer, and baseball. Most Blacks are not entering combat sports as before.
What you say about poor countries/communities is hitting the nail on the head. I am not saying Whites are better at combat, what I am saying is that whichever group is into something is who will dominate it and poor groups tend to have more martial believe still. American whites have become generally not living in REAL hard backgrounds. I know a lot of whites are living kind of poor but not like the other countries of the world and people that live in good neighborhoods seem to leave behind serious pursuit of boxing. It is not as important to people living in non-violent neighborhoods to learn martial skills. With that said I still think because of their different bodies, it is easier to make a good black boxer at the elite level and a good white wrestler. You show me a sport that has speed as top priority and I will tell you blacks dominate it if they participate in it much and if it has strength as a priority then whites will dominate it if they participate in it much. Most of blacks and whites are in the middle but the fastest of the fastest are black and the strongest of the strong are white. As far as boxing goes the best boxer right now is white (Loma) but that is not usually the case. The UFC has had a LOT more white champs. Tune in to NCAA championships or Olympics in wrestling and it is overwhelmingly white. There has NEVER been a black Strongest man in the world. I don’t watch boxing as much as I used to but it seems to me that if a black and white fight each other that 90 percent of the time the black is faster and backpedals and the white wants to be up close.
Like Tyson Fury and the Klitchkos?
These archaic racial stereotypes are really lame fellas. It’s 2020. Race has nothing to do with a group’s ability to succeed at a sport. It’s more nurture than nature.
Nice pc theory but it doesn’t wash under close scrutiny. People try so hard to make things “fair” and the same but there are differences in different races’ body proportions. The truth is the truth no matter what you want it to be. When was the last time you saw a world class white 100 or 200 meter champ? When was the last time you saw a black strongest man? Studies and polls show that more blacks lift weights than whites but whites dominate weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman. High schools either have track and field or they don’t but when things get to the nitty gritty in division 1 and then world class and finally the Olympics, blacks dominate sprinting and whites dominate strength events like pole vault, and shot put. I read and study this a LOT and here is something to watch for that explains a lot of sports. When you watch for it I think you will see it is true (with the caveat that, yes, nurture explains a lot of sports but not all. Obviously if one group does something and another group doesn’t then you can’t even consider that sport for comparison.) If my language/explanatory skills are good then follow me: blacks and whites at the same height have the same width shoulders but blacks have narrower hips and pelvis so whites have wider hips and pelvis. Since blacks have narrower hips and same shoulder this gives blacks a more v shape which looks more impressive but is not as strong but along with higher hips and therefore longer legs gives blacks more speed and jumping ability but gives whites with there wider hips more pushing/twisting power and lifting ability. One build can’t be better at everything. Keep in mind this is all for the average over a population and it might not be able to be seen for people that are overweight and is for everything such as considering people who work out and not people who work out versus people who don’t. Also, keep in mind there is overlap between the two groups and so consider the elites: there are very fast whites but fastest of fast are black and there are very strong blacks but strongest of strong are whites. I do not say any of this with hate or “superiority” but have we reached a point where we can’t talk about differences if done with respect and not acting like one is better or worth more. Blacks and whites have different hair and facial characteristics and I don’t think it is hateful or wrong to notice we also have different body proportions and at a low level of sports they may not matter but at the world class where it is about milliseconds then they definitely matter.