Ali back at Croke Park, fighting Cork's O'Sullivan? Make it happen, says Spike
Could it happen? Spike O'Sullivan wants to bring the grandson of Muhammad Ali back to Croke Park to join the bill for Katie Taylor's grand stand occasion on Sept 5th.
CORK'S Gary 'Spike' O’Sullivan wants to add even more history to Katie Taylor’s big Dublin farewell — by bringing Ali back to Croke Park for a sensational bout.
The veteran boxer has called out Nico Ali, grandson of The Greatest, for a middleweight showdown on the undercard of Taylor’s career swansong when she faces Flora Pili in Dublin on September 5th.
O’Sullivan insists that putting the most iconic name in the sport’s history up in lights at Croke Park 54 years after Muhammad Ali defeated Alvin Lewis on Jones’ Road makes sentimental, sporting and business sense.
“The Rebels of Cork against the Muhammad Ali bloodline at Croke Park. Tell me that isn’t an incredible fight!” O’Sullivan said on Wednesday. “I had someone send me a mock-up fight poster and it looks damn good.”
He added: “I’ve known Katie for most of my adult life and way back when used to train alongside her in the same gym with the high-performance unit but I’ve never got to fight on the same card as her. To make it happen on this night of all nights would be the honour of my lifetime.”
Having battled back to fighting fitness, O’Sullivan made a triumphant return to the ring late last year and at 41 years of age insists he has the hunger and desire to continue his world title dream — but only with the right fights and opponents. That’s where Nico Ali comes in. The 25-year-old grandson of Muhammad also ended 2025 with a victory in Dubai. Having watched his recent bouts in depth, O’Sullivan sees a middleweight foe who could make magic happen on Taylor’s big night.
“I’ve done most things in boxing, done stadium fights already, but this would top them all. I want a fight that would excite me and gives me the desire to get out of bed at 5am. There’s not too many fights that would do that for me but this is absolutely one.
“I’ve watched his fights, stylistically it makes for a great fight. Given our age difference people might say it’s going to be Ali-Holmes but I reckon it will have an Ali-Frazier feel to it. He’s ballsy, Nico. He wants to take real fights and this would be a real fight for this stage of his career. He said in Dubai in December that he wanted to go on a world tour. The deep, ancestral roots for Nico of coming back to Croke Park would surely fit that bill.
“For Eddie Hearn and the promoters it makes even more sense. Cork has a huge history of invading Croke Park and turning up for their own. Me against Ali? They’ll be turning up in numbers.”
O’Sullivan has recently been in touch with Evan Holyfield, son of Hall of Famer Evander, who revealed that in a recent visit with the Ali family in Chicago, O’Sullivan’s name had come up.
“Evan said they’d been discussing me. They think I’m a throwback fighter,” he added. “I think Nico is classy act too. I saw him recently with my old promoter Oscar De La Hoya advocating for the Ali Act. There’s integrity there and I’m the same.
“I don’t want to go the way of so many lads who trash talk. I don’t need to sling mud at Ali to try and make a fight happen. It would be totally wrong to throw shade at anyone with that surname. This is a fight where it would be an honour to share the ring with a member of the Ali family at a place that is hallowed ground in Irish sport, where his grandfather once fought and where our country’s greatest fighter is on top bill for her farewell fight. Let’s get it on, Nico.”
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