Three framed photos sit proudly above the desk of Paschal Collins in the office of his Celtic Warriors Gym in Dublin.
Two of the three are former world middleweight champions; the third has a chance to complete the set on Saturday night.
It is no surprise really that one of the men is the original Celtic Warrior, and brother of coach Collins, Steve, king of the super middleweight division in the 1990s and famous for slaying Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, twice. Collins had won the WBO middleweight title in 1994 before going on to dominate in the heavier division.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler also earns his place on the wall, for obvious reasons, being one of the greatest and most entertaining boxers in the history of the sweet science.
Number three first laced up his gloves in the paid ranks back in 2008, and since that maiden win over six rounds against Peter Dunn, a beautiful friendship was born, as boxer and coach plotted the route to champion of the world.
The road less travelled, perhaps, taking 14 years to finally land a shot of boxing immortality, but a road that has proved high on emotion, disappointment, frustration and inevitable elation.
Gary 'Spike' O’Sullivan’s first professional fight was hosted at the Neptune Sports Arena in his hometown of Cork, and his 36th encounter will take place tonight in New York City at the Barclay’s Center.
What Katie Taylor did in Manhattan last month, O’Sullivan is looking to do in neighbouring Brooklyn tonight (around 3am Irish time) as he fights for the WBA world middleweight title against Erislandy Lara, the one-time Cuban amateur star who defected from the land of his birth, not once, but twice, eventually reaching the shores of Mexico in the back of a speedboat.
O’Sullivan’s journey may not have been as eventful as Lara’s, but it was just as interesting, as he worked his way up through the rankings to land the Irish title in his tenth fight before going on to take the WBO international middleweight title in his 15th encounter.
That victory against Matthew Hall pushed the door open for bigger fights and O’Sullivan went toe-to-toe with future world champion Billy Joe Saunders, albeit losing on points.
O’Sullivan the entertainer emerged via a live televised fight, when he knocked Anthony Fitzgerald out in the first round of their much-hyped grudge match, on the undercard of Matthew Macklin’s defeat to Jorge Sebastian Heiland.
Four more knockouts would follow, all Stateside and one at the iconic Madison Square Garden, which would lead to another bad-blooded encounter against the son of the aforementioned Eubank, Chris Jr, on what was a huge night of boxing at the O2 Arena in London, when Anthony Joshua retained his world heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte.
Losing on points, O’Sullivan was retired by his corner after seven rounds due to a burst ear drum, and while defeat number two would be registered on his records, O’Sullivan had now reached the periphery of world level with the most valuable asset in the game of boxing, obtaining the reputation of an entertainer, a crowd pleaser, a knock-out artist and willing to go into the ring against the best.
If the money is right, that is.
For O’Sullivan spurned the chance to take on the very best of the middleweight division, Genady Golovkin, as it made more financial sense to sign up for a multi-fight deal with Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
O’Sullivan hit the boxing headlines in 2017 as he stopped a real up-and-comer in his tracks, knocking out middleweight prospect Antoine Douglas on the undercard of the world title fight between Saunders and David Lemieux.
O’Sullivan would meet Lemieux soon after, another former world champion, two fights later on the undercard of the biggest fight of the year between Canelo Alvarez and Golovkin, in what was considered a world title eliminator.
A feature film documentary followed Spike throughout his build-up, however, the Prizefighter would not see out the first round, getting caught with a huge punch from the naturally heavier fighter.
O’Sullivan’s next move was to drop a weight to go in search of the light middleweight title, but as luck would have it, he would end up fighting the former champion who was moving up into the marquee division.
The fight with Mexican star Jaime Munguia, as you would expect, was a highly entertaining encounter, with low blows aplenty, and a spell midway through the contest where it looked as though O’Sullivan would cause a major upset.
However, in the end it was defeat number four for Spike, and while the quest for the light middleweight title continued, Covid would put everything on hold for a couple of years.
But opportunity came knocking once again, coincidentally coinciding with Katie Taylor's big night in New York as news of O’Sullivan’s next fight would break; another Irish fighter looking for world glory in the Big Apple.
As a result, O’Sullivan has really only had seven weeks to prepare for his first world title fight, but thanks to the motivation and dedication that remained burning inside the Mahon man, there was no hesitation when it came to taking the fight once offered.
"I think it’s his best chance of winning a world title," said O’Sullivan’s coach Paschal Collins, speaking to RTÉ Sport ahead of the fight.
"He’s fighting someone who is older [39 to O'Sullivan's 37] and moving up a weight, and the fights that he lost were against Saunders, Eubank and Lemieux, who are all super middleweights."
Long-term trainer Collins said that he has seen another side of his fighter throughout this training camp and believes that it is self-motivation that has led him to excel throughout the build-up to this fight.
"I think Spike is going to win the world title, and if you see the way he is behaving in camp and the way he has trained and the way he is speaking...
"He is talking in the past tense as if he is world champion, that’s the way he is speaking.
"I have seen a change in Spike and I feel he has gone a level above his norm in terms of pushing himself in training. And it is off his own bat, he has pushed himself above and beyond what he has to do.
"He wants to leave all his work in the gym and wants to do more than he needs to do. He is putting the work in and I think the hard work in the gym is what is going to win this fight for him."
Collins also feels that he might be facing the once-gifted Lara at an opportune time as he feels that there was no reason for the Cuban exile to move up a weight other than as a result of not training properly.
"When I look at Lara, I see a boxer who is putting on weight, not because he is getting bigger, but because he is not training as hard, that’s what I see," said Collins.
"He is a southpaw, and has a good left hand. Is he as big a puncher as Jaime Munguia? Probably not.
"And I think Lara is coming to the end of his career. He has fought Canelo, and probably should have got the decision, but that was seven years ago.
"I don’t think that Lara has the engine to go 12 hard, hard rounds with a puncher like Spike.
"A lot of great fighters have one fight too many and I am hoping that is what happens with Lara."
Should O’Sullivan secure the belt, his coach believes that it would put his fighter in a prime position to dictate future fights and reap the beneficial rewards that come with being the champion of the world.
There has been talk about O’Sullivan appearing alongside Katie Taylor on a Croke Park super card, while there would also be the chance to fight for other belts in the division or dropping back to light middleweight to contest.
However, Collins knows that O’Sullivan would dearly love to bring the belt home to the banks of the River Lee to put on a show at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
"Spike’s first fight was in Páirc Uí Chaoimh to see my brother Steve (defend his world title against Chris Eubank in 1995), and it’s only a stone’s throw from where he grew up in Mahon.
"Spike would love to fight at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and wouldn’t it be amazing to complete that circle and bring another world title back to Cork?
"But you know what?" added Collins.
"He has got to go and win that world title first. Otherwise it’s all talk."
