Cork boxer: Learning to French plait when I’m not in the ring!

THROUGHOUT his long and successful career, Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan has held many a title.

Winning 32 of his 37 fights to date, 23 by knockout, the Cork boxing legend has been crowned middleweight champion of Ireland - winning the WBO International belt and the acclaimed WBO Intercontinental Middleweight belt.

But the title Gary is most proud to hold is ‘Dad’. Ahead of Father’s Day this Sunday, we caught up with Cork’s own Celtic Warrior to talk fatherhood, school runs and the important role family plays in his life and career.

Gary and his partner Selina live in Lehenaghmore with their two children, Ashley, 11 and Tommy, aged six. Selina works in a pharmacy while professional boxer and Irish Examiner columnist, Gary, works his schedule around Ashley and Tommy when he’s not away in training.

Fight fans have followed the glittering path that has taken Spike all the way from Mahon to Madison Square Garden, but when he’s at home the gloves are definitely off for this hands-on dad.

He says: “I do most of the cooking when I’m home and people might be interested to know that I plait my daughter’s hair for her a few times a week. Occasionally, I even do French plaits that I learned to do from YouTube.”

Ashley and Tommy both have a wide variety of sporting and theatre interests, keeping the boxer on his toes.

Pretty much every day I’m like ‘Dad’s taxi’ with all the activities the kids have on, but I love it all, especially staying to watch and encourage them.

Spike is a familiar and popular face on the school run at Glasheen every morning and is always ready for a chat and a joke with fellow parents.

“I absolutely love it. I feel I’m extremely fortunate to bring my kids to school every day and collect them when they are finished. I really enjoy it and do the school run every day except for when I’m away at training camp in Dublin.”

Gary has been invited a number of times to speak to the students of Glasheen about his career and to demonstrate to them the importance of resilience.

He recalls: “One time, I was talking to the Glasheen boys after they had lost a Sciath na Scol hurling final. I talked to them about how I am accustomed to losing myself sometimes, but I come back. I told them all about that and I’m delighted to see that this year Glasheen have won the Sciath na Scol.”

Speaking of motivating and supporting young people, Gary thinks of his own dad, Denis, as Father’s Day approaches. The champion fighter believes he wouldn’t be where he is today without him. As Spike rose through the ranks as a juvenile boxer, winning county, Munster and national titles, Denis and his mother Jacinta set up the LoughMahon Boxing Club in 2003.

Thinking back, O’Sullivan says: “My father played a big role in my becoming a professional boxer. He always brought myself and my siblings to our sporting activities and would encourage us and give us confidence, which I think is vital to give your children.”

Asked which is a tougher role, being a pro boxer or a dad, O’ Sullivan believes both have their challenges, noting: “I find they are both very tough roles, but I think being a father is harder as you don’t get many instructions as a parent.”

Gary says becoming a father adds a greater element of concern to his chosen career.

“It’s not something I used to think about much, especially in my younger years as a fighter, but I do think about it more these days. 

I have seen so many fighters get injured over the years but I prepare very well and I am confident that I will be OK.

Muhammed Ali, a lifelong hero of Gary’s, once famously said: “The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

For O’Sullivan, this rings true, but one of the greatest tools in this fighter’s arsenal is his family.

He says: “When I’m away at training camp in Dublin, I always make sure to get home at the weekends to see Selina and the kids. Most pro fighters stay in training camp for about two months, never seeing family, but I miss mine too much so I feel in a better place mentally seeing them every week.”

Away from the ring, Spike is a self-professed ‘messer’ and doesn’t take himself too seriously. He tells us about a recent family holiday in Salou where a neighbouring holidaymaker saw more than she bargained for when she was passing by their chalet.

“The heat on holidays isn’t great for my moustache, it melts the styling wax, so I was using hair clips in it to hold it. I had just come out of the shower and Selina was playing a best of 80s/90s music mix and a song came on that the kids didn’t like so I started dancing around to it in my towel for a laugh.

“I’m a desperate dancer anyway but I was dancing even worse, messing around with the kids. 

Next this woman is looking in the porch at me dancing around like a fool in a towel and with hair clips in my moustache. She must have thought I was a right eejit.

Be it dancing and messing around or pursuing a sporting passion, Gary is a great advocate for physical activity to promote health and wellbeing in children. He says this has always been very important, but even more so these days as parents struggle to get children to spend more time being active and less time on gaming and social media.

While his own children enjoy a wide range of sports, he is very clear in his response when asked if he’d like to see them follow in his footsteps.

“No, I would not like to see my kids become professional boxers at all. It’s too much hard work and an unpleasant sport to participate in at a professional level. I’d rather they would sing and dance and play hurling and camogie, football and soccer. I think that would be more enjoyable for them.”

Whatever paths Ashley and Tommy will take in the years to come, one thing is for sure, they can always count on knockout dad, Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan, to be in their corner for them.