Irish boxer Gary 'Spike' O'Sullivan thinks Conor McGregor would be afraid to call him out, even if he brings home a world title tomorrow night.
O'Sullivan is one of the country's most prolific boxers in recent years, and has only suffered defeat at the hands of world champions Billy Joe Saunders, Jaime Munguia and David Lemieux, as well as Chris Eubank Jr. He gets his shot at world honours for the first time tomorrow in New York against Erislandy Lara.
And he feels that should he win the belt at middleweight, where McGregor is planning to fight when he makes his UFC return [it's called welterweight in MMA], the Dubliner would be too afraid to want to fight him. O'Sullivan trains with Packie Collins, who is friendly with McGregor's coach John Kavanagh, and a fight between the pair would be a massive attraction in their home country.
In an interview for the Irish Mirror with famed football manager Roddy Collins, whose brother is former world champion Steve, O'Sullivan explained why he feels McGregor wouldn't want the fight. “Not a hope," he said. "He wouldn’t fight me at all. No chance. 100 per cent. Not a hope in hell. I would slaughter him. He just wouldn’t be in the same league in a boxing match.”
McGregor is 0-1 as a professional boxer, having lost his debut to Floyd Mayweather in an impressive showing at super-welterweight against one of boxing's all-time greats. But after making more than $100million for that event, the Irishman has struggled to get back to form in the UFC octagon, going 1-3 in his efforts to return and dealing with major injuries.
He is currently overcoming a broken leg suffered in his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier, his second consecutive loss last year. It has taken a year off his career, and will likely be closer to a year-and-a-half by the time he's back in the cage.
Who do you think would win in a boxing match between Gary O'Sullivan and Conor McGregor? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Meanwhile, O'Sullivan is laser-focused on his shot at world honours, after grinding to the top without the support of many major promoters, and amid the freezing out of professional boxing in his home country. He almost quit fighting after having to turn down a night out with family because he only have seven cent to his name, and has now turned it around to become a world level boxer.
“I asked Paschal [Collins] if I should just pack it in and get a job," O'Sullivan explained. He said, ‘No, keep at it, you are going to make it, you are going to be world champion’. I thought about it loads of times. I had no money. Nothing. I lived with my mother-in-law for years. I was in the box room with my missus. We had a bed and bunk beds for our kids. I built those bunk beds.
"I remember my lowest point. My in-laws were out for a few pints and my missus urged me to go out. I said, no, my stomach’s not feeling the best. But the real reason I didn’t want to go was that I had seven cent. That’s all I had in my pocket. Swear to God."
