Gary O'Sullivan vs. Antoine Douglas

On the Billy Joe Saunders vs. David Lemieux card December 16th on HBO, in the co-featured slot. The spoils of this one could well be next crack at whoever emerges champ from the main event...particularly if they steal the show. TV ratings sometimes matter a bit more than sanctioning body rankings.

Each has on their resume a pair of eminently forgivable blemishes, respectively. For the Virginian: a TKO10 loss to modern day Harry Greb facsimile Avtandil Khurtsidze and ten-round majority draw with the slick Michel Soro. Both are world class and he didn't embarrass himself on either occasion. As for the Cork man: he was virtually shut out by rising star BJS in a battle of unbeaten prospects in 2013, and walked through an inordinate amount of punishment before submitting inside schedule to Saunders' rival and second-generation athletic phenom Chris Eubank Jr. in 2015.

As for the W column, neither has any single achievement that is all that glittering. Both have gained their reputations by just looked consistently "pretty good" (within their given styles) versus low-level competition, while acquitting themselves admirably despite coming up short in their steps up. Each has a couple of B-ish victories, one C+, and then dumpsters full of tomato cans.

Douglas boasts as his career twin peaks back-to-back knockouts over Swiss-Hungarian basic Euro grinder István Szili and lanky New Jersey regional draw Cornflake Lamanna in 2015. Spike has as his primary trophies a pair of Brits - outpointing former Commonwealth 154lb champ Matthew Hall in 2012 and smashing a game but physically outmatched Nick Quigley to a pulp two months ago. Scraping the barrel to find a third decent scalp yields for O'Sullivan his KO1 blitz of countryman Anthony Fitzgerald (known for giving an undertrained Andy Lee a difficult night) with a record now standing at 18-8; and for Douglas probably the Mexican trial horse Pablo "Gravedigger" Munguia...who enjoyed a nice run of upsets in 2012-2014, but down at welterweight (and he's now 38yo, sitting at 21-12, and Douglas was the seventh person to stop him).

Up for grabs in this is the more tangible reward of the WBO Intercontinental middleweight title, and the peace of mind of dodging a setback on the march to relevance (and fatter paychecks).

 

Douglas lost or drew when he stepped up as well, and has beaten no more people of note than Spike has.

 

Szili/Cornflake/Munguia trumps Hall/Quigley/Fitzgerald? Eh. Not by much, if any, I'd say. I'm pretty sure Hall at the very least beats all three of Douglas' victims (even though he's a natural 154lber; both Cornflake and Sepulturero are career welters)

Where are people getting the impression that Douglas has ever beaten anyone? Whom on his record am I missing?

 

Douglas could outbox Spike, though; he's quite a bit more skilled, and faster. I'd say that is the second most likely outcome after Douglas getting KTFO (depends on whether he is defensively sound enough to avoid the onslaught from a fit & determined - if slow & basic - Spike for a full 10)

Very similar, nigh unsplittable resumes, however. Not sure how anyone could see it any differently.

 

Yep. Antoine is faster on both trigger and reflexively, and has the potential to be slicker (but not always the good sense to avoid getting sucked into brawls), while Gary has the edge in power and, I think more importantly, chin.