Spike O'Sullivan: I wanted Golovkin so badly it made me sick — now Canelo might end his career
Smiling assassin: At 40, Gennady Golovkin still looks like a cross between Ivan Drago and a plain old serial killer. Pic: PA Wire
Whatever else about me, I’m a good sleeper. But for three torturous nights in a row I hadn’t slept a second. Barely closed my eyes. It was a level of stress and anxiety I hadn’t a clue was even possible. I got up out of my bed in the Citywest Hotel and went down into the darkness of the carpark for a walk. I went a couple of steps and stopped. My body convulsed and I vomited.
People talk about wanting something badly. I wanted Gennady Golovkin so badly that my body and my mind were consumed by it. Three sleepless, nauseous nights when I could only focus on him, on wanting to step into a ring with him and into the biggest fight any Irish boxer had ever had. All the belts, all the glory, all on the line.
It never happened.
Four years have passed and on Saturday night Golovkin will walk into the lights of Las Vegas for a third crack at Canelo Alvarez. I think it might be his final crack — at anyone — and by the time the dust settles out there in the early hours, GGG’s career may be over. If so, I’ll never get the fight that absolutely consumed me all those days and nights. That’s fighting for you.
I wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near Golovkin…or Canelo. In late 2017 Golden Boy brought me out to Quebec to lose to Antoine Douglas. I made a balls of their plans and ended Douglas’s career. So Golden Boy signed me up. A few months later the Canelo-Golovkin rematch went south when Alvarez failed a drugs test. I was the next in line. The promotion of the fight went from Golden Boy to Tom Loeffler, GGG’s promoter. He offered me $400,000 to take it. Golden Boy didn’t want me to but I was desperate for it. I fancied a crack at him. I was feeling really good, coming off a great one and I really thought I could beat him.
So, outside in the dark of that car park, I sent Loeffler a private mail and I said ‘email the fight contract to Citywest Hotel and I’ll print and sign it myself’. The next morning I came to the gym and my trainer Packie Collins threw everyone out of the place. I’d never seen him do it before, nor since. He said ‘Spike, sit down. What the f*** did you do last night?’ Loeffler was legally obligated to contact my promoters and Golden Boy weren’t happy. I told Packie ‘I just want to fight him’.
I forced Golden Boy’s hand in a lot of ways. They said they’d put on a show for me the night before GGG’s fight with Vanes Martirosyan, in the same LA arena. They knew Canelo-Golovkin II was still going to happen that September and said they’d put me on the undercard with someone I’d beat and then I’d get the winner of Canelo and GGG. The contract was worth about $8M in all.
Packie brought me into the dressing room and said ‘Spike, as your trainer I’d love to have you in there in the biggest fight for an Irish boxer. But as your manager, I have to tell you: this is a time to take off your fighter’s hat and put on your father’s hat. This is a huge deal for you, way more money and you’re going to get to fight him anyway.’ That was the plan. It all got f***ed up when I got KO’d by David Lemieux.
I was the co-main event for Canelo-Golovkin II and I didn’t even get to watch them go at it. Myself and Packie had tickets for ringside. Golden Boy thought I was going to beat Lemieux, I’d clean up and cruise back out to ringside for the main event. We had these great seats but they were damn all use to us in the back of the ambulance. Packie gave them to his cousin. We were up in the hospital getting brain scans and the cousin starts sending us selfies from the fight, sitting six feet from the ring next to Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith and Lady Gaga. I was sitting next to Packie and a nurse who wasn’t all that sympathetic.
I’ve gone back and watched that rematch since. It was close. Their first fight the year before was even closer and there’s still plenty of people out there who think GGG was robbed when it was called a draw. Now here they go again. Golovkin, still looking like a cross between Ivan Drago and a plain old serial killer. Canelo, a beast in his own unique way. Will it be just as close? I’m not so sure.
GGG is 40 now, Canelo is 32. The numbers say that the eight-year age gap isn’t any different to what it was in 2017 or 2018 but the older you get, the more that gap stretches out. When I was 32, I felt like Superman…40 can’t feel the same.
Canelo is coming off his first loss in nine years and sure, Dmitry Bivol gave him plenty that night in May. But nothing sharpens you quite like losing for the first time in a long time. Saturday is the No.1 middleweight in the world meeting the No.1 super middleweight. But they’re meeting at Super and Canelo is very comfortable there. He’s gone all the way to 175lbs. This will be Golovkin’s first time up at 168.
Canelo is shorter but stockier, he’s more youthful and maybe hungrier too. He’ll be bloody motivated after the Bivol loss. You want to not just bounce back but come back and win in spectacular fashion. What could be more of statement than coming in and taking Golovkin out? That’s why I think we’ll see a more vicious Canelo than ever before.
Of all the numbers, one stands out to me: Golovkin has fought 394 career fights, 44 of them as a professional, 350 as an amateur and he’s never been down in his life. I realise this is a big prediction but I really do think he’s going to take his first visit to the canvas this weekend. I’d go as far as to predict that it’ll be a left hook to the body that sends him there.
If I’m wrong, then I’ll be wrong because Canelo gets caught out by gunning too much for it. As I wrote about here a couple of weeks ago, anyone can get knocked out. I know that all too well. Everyone thinks they’re invincible until they’re not.
But I don’t think I’ll be wrong. This just feels like it could be GGG’s last fight. If he gets beaten within the distance, with that liver shot that I have a sneaking sense for, then that could be the end of it. And the official end of what was once my dream fight.
Anthony Joshua’s management team have announced that he has accepted terms for the mega fight with Tyson Fury that we’ve all been waiting years for. We haven’t had concrete confirmation of the bout yet and there’s talk that the full announcement has been delayed because of Britain’s period of mourning before the Queen’s funeral.
Maybe they should have gone ahead and announced it as a tribute to the Royal family because this fight is all about gold and riches. The only reason Fury will have opted to face his countryman next and not Oleksandr Usyk, who comfortably beat Joshua for the second time in a row last month, is money.
I like Tyson Fury a lot but whenever I’ve heard him make his retirement announcements or any comments about him hanging up the gloves, I think Eamonn Dunphy should be the one doing the analysis. In Dunphy-speak, Fury is an absolute spoofer.
But it will be good to have him back in the ring. He is the best heavyweight on the planet and it’s not even close, so any chance that we do get to see him should be treasured.
How much Joshua sees of him on fight night I’m not so sure. AJ has so much belief in himself. If I woke up in the morning, looked in the mirror and saw what he sees, I’d have confidence and belief too. But he has a lot of guys in his ear telling him he’s better than he is, telling him he’s good enough for this. He’s not.
If they come together on December 3, Fury will win easily. And I’d fear he’s going to beat Joshua badly, bust him up and knock him out. Then he’ll move on to Usyk, which will probably end up being a more competitive fight anyway.
