CORK’S GARY ‘SPIKE’ O’Sullivan had his moments but was outgunned by unbeaten Mexican star Jaime Munguia, succumbing to defeat in the 11th round of their encounter at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Making his debut up at middleweight, Munguia [35-0, 28KOs] had his whiskers checked throughout the contest and was notably hurt by the Mahon man in the third, but grew in confidence as the bout wore on before overwhelming O’Sullivan in the penultimate round.

The Mexican controlled the second half of the fight, his power jab, body attack and indeed low blows — one of which was punished with a point deduction — taking the wind out of Spike’s sails. Munguia sent an exhausted O’Sullivan [30-4, 21 KOs] to the canvas after a blistering barrage in the 11th.

Paschal Collins threw in the towel just before Spike hit the deck, forcing the referee to stop the fight at 2:17 of the round. O’Sullivan briefly protested his trainer’s decision but it was a commendable call by Collins, whose fomer world-champion brother Steve was also in the Spike corner.

O’Sullivan, who was returning to middleweight after parking his title chase a division below for a big-money, major opportunity in Texas, was first hurt at the end of the first, earning him a telling off from Collins as he retreated to his corner. It worked: the 35-year-old puncher enjoyed a far better second, making his mark with a big overhand right which caught Munguia’s attention and that of the pro-Mexican crowd.

Spike was conspicuously the smaller man but marched Munguia backwards for much of the first half. He rocked the Golden Boy/Zanfer-promoted star at the end of the third, Munguia wobbling back to his corner with plenty to think about.

The rangier, more athletic 23-year-old recovered and steadied the ship in the fourth and fifth rounds, landing the more telling blows. In the sixth, however, he was deducted a point for landing the latest in a series of low blows. A sharp body-and-head combination by Spike rubber-stamped a 10-8 round in favour of the Cork man, and the fight appeared to be in the melting pot.

Munguia poured it on in the seventh, however. O’Sullivan went down amid the onslaught but from another low blow — this one deemed accidental enough to not warrant another docked point. It appeared to take something out of the older man, however, and from round eight onwards, he was running on fumes as Munguia’s assaults — particularly to the bottom half — began to pay dividends.

Collins seemed to inspire a second wind in his man with a rousing piece of cornermanship before the 10th, but the end came a round later as Munguia drove O’Sullivan backwards towards the ropes, eventually crumbling him beneath the weight of a vicious assault.

“I think he is strong at middleweight and he can do good things at the weight,” O’Sullivan said in the wake of his fourth career defeat, all of which have come against either former or future world champions. “Golden Boy said they are going to get me a world title shot at light-middleweight.

“I think he was stronger at 160 pounds than he was at 154 pounds. He was the bigger guy in there, but I nearly took him out a few times as well. I rocked him a few times.

“I just want to go home and take some time off from boxing now and spend some times with my kids. I want to take a break from boxing for a while.”