ONE day after David Lemieux vowed to permanently damage Gary “Spike” O’ Sullivan on Saturday night’s Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez II undercard, the Irishman called his Canadian rival ‘a scumbag’ and ‘a greasy piece of s**t.’ A greasy piece of s**t who had s**t himself on the way to the press conference, no less.
Dressed in a checked three-piece suit and sharp shades, the shaven-skulled Spike waited to be called to the mic inside the KA Arena at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Lemieux, his plume of hair atop his head scraped back in fashionista style, watched on as Sullivan wasted no time in grabbing the room’s attention.
“Can you smell that?” he said. “It’s fear.
“He smells like he’s s**t himself as well. I should smash your head in, right in the lobby, you greasy piece of s**t.”
What started life as an intriguing 12-round middleweight support bout – confirmed as a final eliminator for the WBA title that will contested in the main event – this week turned into what appears a genuine grudge match when Lemieux called O’Sullivan a ‘woman beater’ at Tuesday’s Grand Arrivals.
On Wednesday, at the open workouts, Lemieux went a step further and vowed to damage the Irishman ‘for life’.
“I saw that comment,” O’Sullivan said after Thursday’s press conference. “It shows what kind of man he is. He’s classless. I saw him when he knocked out Curtis Stevens, he’s a classless guy, he’s a scumbag. I always wait until I know my [beaten] opponent is okay before I celebrate.
“Saying he’s going to ‘damage’ me? I never go into a fight to damage someone permanently. People have got children, family, they’ve got mothers and fathers. It’s a gentleman’s sport at the end of the day. We get in the ring to have a fight and to win the fight, knock the guy out, but not permanently damage him.
“It’s not a nice thing to be saying. You have to carry yourself in a gentlemanly way, it’s not a comment a boxer should make.”
Such threats should have no place in boxing under any circumstances. O’Sullivan – trained by Paschal Collins – did not respond in kind, either.
“Saturday night will be his last fight, he should have retired before now, he’s been beaten on many occasions.
“I can feel the fear in him when I walk towards him, I can feel the weakness in him. I’m the stronger man, he thinks he’s the bigger puncher but he’s in for a shock. I’m going to f**k him right up.”
Lemieux insisted that the last time they met O’Sullivan had been overawed in his company, so much so he asked for a selfie while out in Montreal. Spike doesn’t deny the photo request but his reasons for approaching the Canadian were not born from respect.
“He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer,” Spike explained. “He’s not got a lot going on upstairs. I knew he was a potential opponent for me so I was sizing him up, seeing how tall he was, I got a feel for him on that day. He’s small, he’s not as solid as me, I got a good feeling from him because I was stronger.
Lemieux, an IBF champion until Golovkin violently ended his reign via eighth round stoppage in 2015, was comprehensively outscored over 12 rounds when he challenged Billy Joe Saunders for the WBO title at the end of last year. A win for the slugger could see him secure a return with Golovkin. Spike can’t see it.
“He’s on the way down, I’m on the way up,” Spike said. “He was absolutely obliterated by GGG in the past, he didn’t win a round. It doesn’t matter anyway.
“Billy Joe Saunders is a good friend of mine. He recommended the sparring partners that I’ve had. They were the same guys that he had, and the sparring went very well. He said when I get in the ring and fight Lemieux it would be easier than sparring these guys.”
So O’Sullivan is ‘visualising’ gatecrashing the middleweight scene with a breakout victory and then challenging the winner of Golovkin-Canelo. As the two fighters went nose-to-nose, O’Sullivan removed his sunglasses, eyeballed the enemy up close before Lemieux shoved him back.
“He’s a greaseball who has been embarrassed on numerous occasions,” Spike explained again to save any confusion on his feelings. “He’s a scumbag.”
