By Matt Lieberman: The game effort that Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (30-4, 21 KOs) put in last Saturday night against former WBO 154lb champion Jaime Munguia (35-0, 28 KOs) may have earned him a world title shot at junior middleweight. O’Sullivan looked outstanding in losing by an 11th round TKO to the younger, and bigger 6’0″ Munguia in their fight on DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
O’Sullivan’s stock rose in defeat
In losing the fight, this was one of O’Sullivan’s best performances of his career. He’s clearly not a middleweight, but he was able to stay in there and fight Munguia on even terms for the first 7 rounds before the Mexican talent made adjustments.
Munguia’s trainer Erik Morales had him switch things up starting in the 8th round by having him use his jab, and throw speedy combinations. Before that, Munguia was loading up on single shots, and O’Sullivan countered him frequently with his harder shots.
Golden Boy to get O’Sullivan a world title shot at 154
“Golden Boy said they are going to get me a world title shot at light middleweight,” said O’Sullivan to the Irishmirror.ie. “I rocked him a few times. I nearly took him out a few times.
“He hit me a good few shots in my leg,” said O’Sullivan about Munguia’s punches coming in low. “I’m walking around limping. I wanted to continue. A fighter always wants to fight on, but sometimes you’re too brave for your own good,” said O’Sullivan.
“I was talking to Sergio Mora; he was on the commentary. He said he wanted me to continue as well but that Paschal made the right decision.”
The world title shot that O’Sullivan will likely be getting at 154 will be against WBO champion Patrick Teixeira (31-2, 22 KOs), who is promoted by Golden Boy. It would be a voluntary defense for the 29-year-old Brazilian Teixeira against O’Sullivan.
Few fans will complain about O’Sullivan getting a title shot at this point, being that he earned it with the performance he put in against Munguia last Saturday. Further, DAZN would likely want to see more of O’Sullivan after the way he fought. Middleweight isn’t his weight class, but he gave a good account of himself.
A fight between O’Sullivan and Teixeira will be fun to watch, and a lot of boxing fans would tune in to see that one.
The southpaw Teixeira recently won the World Boxing Organization junior middleweight title in defeating Carlos Adames by a narrow 12 round unanimous decision on November 30. This is the WBO title that was recently vacated by Munguia when he moved up to 160.
O’Sullivan felt privileged to go to war with Munguia
I know for a #fact it was a #Mexican who done this. It’s an honour to me #respect to the #Mexican people I’ve made no secret that I’m a Mexican fight fan & it was a privilege to go to WAR with undefeated Mexican world champion last night. I’ll be back soon for the world title 👊 pic.twitter.com/1gG6pwXbYH
— Gary Spike OSullivan (@spike_osullivan) January 13, 2020
Munguia didn’t seem comfortable with the confidence that O’Sullivan was showing, as he was afraid to attack him the way he’d one his other opponents. One reason for that was the big shots that O’Sullivan kept landing when Munguia would step on the gas.
O’Sullivan did an excellent job of mixing up the power on his shots. He would throw lighter shots, and then all of a sudden load up with a massive punch that would surprise Munguia.
O’Sullivan hurt Munguia a number of times in the match, and him close to being stopped early in the contest. The composure that the Irish fighter O’Sullivan showed in the fight was inspiring.
No matter how bad things were for O’Sullivan during the bout, he was always grinning at Munguia, letting him know that he was enjoying himself. That kind of attitude is rare in boxing. O’Sullivan is a different type of fighter. He was confident even when the cards are stacked against him during the later rounds of the fight with Munguia last Saturday.
Munguia lost a point in the 6th round from a low blow that put O’Sullivan on one knee. In the 7th, Munguia landed another low blow that hurt O’Sullivan. That could have led to another point deduction. O’Sullivan was getting hit with blow shots all throughout the fight, but that’s not the reason he lost.
