Irish Daily Mirror

Gary drops a weight to fight on

- BY BERNARD O’NEILL

GARY “SPIKE” O’SULLIVAN has vowed to fight again before Christmas following his stunning loss to David Lemieux in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

The Irish middleweig­ht was stopped late in the first round of the world title eliminator on the Gennady Golovkin versus Canelo Alvarez undercard at the T-mobile Arena.

O’sullivan started brightly, but Canada-born Lemieux caught the Corkman cold 2 minutes and 44 seconds into the first round with a powerful head shot.

Referee Russell Mora started the count after O’sullivan went down but waved the fight off after it became apparent the Leesider was in no condition to continue.

“I believe I would have won the fight but I got caught with a shot I didn’t see coming,” said O’sullivan who will serve a mandatory one-month medical suspension after the third defeat of his 31 bout career.

He added: “I’m going to make a move down to light middleweig­ht.

”I weighed in tonight at 163lbs in my clothes. I felt great in there, just a freak shot. I feel grand now.

“I hope to be back in the ring in December. I’m taking a week out of the gym and I’ll be back in training.”

Lemieux is now sizing up a tilt at Alvarez who earned a debatable majority decision over Golovkin in the main event in Vegas.

He said: “Congrats to Canelo on his victory. That would be something I’m interested in. I definitely want to fight Canelo. A fight with Canelo is realistic and a fight with Golovkin is also realistic.”

 ??  ?? STUNNING VICTORY David Lemieux celebrates
STUNNING VICTORY David Lemieux celebrates
 ??  ?? MEDICAL HELP Gary O’sullivan on Saturday
MEDICAL HELP Gary O’sullivan on Saturday

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