CORK MIDDLEWEIGHT SPIKE O’Sullivan’s fight in Los Angeles this Friday night will be broadcast live – free-to-air – on eir Sport 1.
The world-rated O’Sullivan [27-2, 19KOs] will face Berlin Abreu in pursuit of his fifth consecutive knockout win, as he continues to chase a career-defining fight with one of the 160-pound kingpins.
O’Sullivan, a native of Mahon in the Rebel County, was the frontrunner to face WBC, WBA and IBF World champion Gennady Golovkin this Saturday after Canelo Alvarez withdrew from the pair’s rematch due to failed drug tests, but was pulled from the running by his team due to the omnishambles that were negotiations.
Instead, O’Sullivan will face Abreu – who’s moving up two divisions in pursuit of his own scalp – as part of a new, three-fight Golden Boy Promotions deal (which was first reported by Jack O’Toole of SportsJoe).
Victory, particularly if emphatic, will edge the 33-year-old closer to a dream world title bout in either the winter or spring of next year.
We are delighted to announce Spike O'Sullivan's WBO Inter-Continential Middleweight title defence this Friday night will be LIVE on eir sport 1! 📺@spike_osullivan is the Co-Main Event on the @GoldenBoyBoxing #GarciaVelez card at the StubHub Centre in LA. #IrishBoxing 🇮🇪🥊 pic.twitter.com/QB7Uf2VAXO
— eir Sport (@eirSport) April 30, 2018
Spike-Abreu will be the third high-profile bout involving an Irish fighter to be carried exclusively by eir Sport in recent weeks: the network also broadcast Donegal middleweight Jason Quigley’s long-anticipated ring return in March, and showed Kildare light-middleweight Dennis Hogan’s world-title eliminator on delay earlier this month.
As was the case with both Quigley and Hogan’s bouts, O’Sullivan’s will be a freeview broadcast, meaning even those who don’t subscribe to eir Sport can still tune in and watch him live from StubHub Center, Carson, California.
Eir Sport will confirm the exact time of their broadcast during the week, but coverage will begin sometime in the region of 3am on Sunday, Irish time.
Repeats – also free-to-air – will be shown at 11am and 10pm on Sunday.
