WBO middleweight world champion Billy Joe Saunders has no problem with providing a rematch to Gary ’Spike’ O’Sullivan.
They fought each other back in 2013 at London's Wembley Arena - with Saunders dominating the action over twelve rounds of action. O'Sullivan had claimed that a burst ear drum early in the fight, and personal problems during training camp, affected him greatly in the fight.
Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) and O'Sullivan (27-2, 19 KOs) were both in action on the same card last month in Canada - and both fights were televised by HBO.
Saunders appeared in the main event, and he dominated former IBF champion David Lemieux over twelve rounds.
In a minor upset on the undercard, O'Sullivan battered and knocked out rising prospect Antoine Douglas in the seventh round.
Off the back of that big victory, O'Sullivan would like to secure a rematch against Saunders.
"Spike is a very good friend of mine. We had a little fall-out on Twitter but we have made up now. He is a really good fighter, a lot of people don’t give him credit but he’s tough for anybody — he can punch. I would love to fight him again, I really mean that," Saunders told pundit Declan Taylor.
“For one he’s my mate so I’d like to give him a payday, get him in the ring and get him some money. He is also deserving of a world-title shot and guess what? I’ve got the belt.”
And while the two are good friends, Saunders has issued a very firm pre-fight warning to O'Sullivan - stating that the Irish boxer had no shot of walking away with the world title.
He admits that O'Sullivan is a very dangerous puncher at 168, but loses a lot of that pop when he squeezes down to 160.
“He won’t beat me, I think he knows deep down he cannot beat me," Saunders said.
“Maybe in his own head he thinks he has got better since last time so he has a chance of beating me. But he won’t. I battered him last time, I’m surprised he wants it again. He has come over for sparring since then and we were sparring at 168. Wow, he can really punch at that weight.
“He can punch like a heavyweight at 168, super-middle, but doing the middleweight limit of 160 just saps a little bit out of him. I’m not saying he’s better off going up in weight but at 168 his power increases rapidly from what it is at 160. Making weight saps us all a bit but his power at 168 is frightening. At 160 he hasn’t got enough to stop me and it would be another hard night for him, mark my words.”