By Niall Doran

It was a night that perhaps didn't go how Irish fight fans would have liked with the main event headliner Matthew Macklin suffering defeat Saturday night at the 3 Arena in Dublin, but a certain man from Cork called Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan produced some concussive magic when he stopped the always tough and game Anthony Fitzgerald in the very first round via a chilling uppercut.

Straight after Spike's electric win he spent time with BoxingScene before he celebrating the victory with family and friends.

He noted that new training methods helped a lot in the preparation for the bout with Fitzgerald, saying: “I felt very relaxed.  The mobility training I've had over the last two months, which I've never had before, has made me a lot more flexible and a lot more powerful.

“Every day I stretch before I work out, I roll out, I'm much more flexible.  On Saturday's I go into a recovery pool—it is minus eight degrees.  I go in there ten times and then I go to the warm pool.  The theory behind it is the body is in such shock that the blood rushes to your vital organs and rushes away from all the muscles you've been working all week.  Then when you get out the change in temperature causes a pins and needles sensation and helps fresh blood come back to the muscles.  It's working wonders and gives me the ability to train harder every week.”

Speaking about featuring on the big occasions, he said:  “I absolutely love the big occasion, love it.  I remember my very first big arena was the 02 in Greenwich, I done the same, first round knockout.  I was very relaxed before this fight and felt very confident.”

He added: “I'd love to fight Eubank Jr., but I’d rather Mackli—you'd get more credibility for beating him.  I'd love to bring it to Cork, we have not had (a big) one since 1995.  But I'd go to Tipperary no problem as well.”

No doubt big things will be next for Spike 18-1 (11 KOs) after such an emphatic, stunning and conclusive knockout victory live on Sky Sports last Saturday.