David Lemieux and Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan will fight on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin II in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 15th on the HBO pay-per-view portion of the card, but both fighters understand this is potentially a pivotal moment in both of their careers.

“I can’t wait. I’m really excited about this fight. My first time-fighting in Vegas. Excited about the whole event and my training is going really good. Got some really good sparring partners. Saunders recommended some sparring partners that he used in preparation for Lemieux, so I’ve been using those guys and feeling really good.” said O’Sullivan, who is coming off two consecutive knockout wins including an upset knockout victory over Antoine Douglas.

Lemieux, an entertaining action fighter with great quotable at press conferences was noticeably more subdued.

“This fight is about getting back on top, so I’m preparing myself for that.” Lemieux said.

Lemieux’s career is more in flux as of now. He is a top-ten middleweight, but with losses against Billy Joe Saunders and Gennady Golovkin, ones in which he was not all that competitive in, a bout against O’Sullivan is also one that he needs to win at this point to keep his career going in a positive direction.

The conference call the two took part in went in a fiery direction as you can tell O’Sullivan is full of confidence and a former world champion, Lemieux didn’t feel he was getting the respect he deserved from the vocal challenger.

“…I’m going to beat your ass. It’s not going to be no walk in the park. Don’t think it’s going to be an easy fight. I’m not coming here to lose. I’m going to come here to destroy you. You’ll see. You’ll see September 15th. Keep training hard at the gym. You’re going to need it. You’re going to need every round, you’re going to need it, trust me.” said Lemieux in the midst of verbal exchange.

O’Sullivan, a fighter who took the backroads to the top of the sport found himself at the top of the division after several failed attempts against top competition, most notably a decision loss to WBO middleweight champion, Billy Joe Saunders in 2013. O’Sullivan got an unexpected TKO win over Antoine Douglas on an HBO coincidentally on the Billy Joe Saunders vs. David Lemieux title fight in December. O’Sullivan picked up a win in May and now has his eyes set on Lemieux with a ton of momentum.

“ I believe obviously the momentum is with me. I’m a pressure fighter. I believe David’s time has come and gone. He’s had his time in the past and he’s had a few heavy losses. He’s got a number of beatings and so I think the ball is certainly in my court.” said O’Sullivan.

Lemieux, on the other hand, missed weight in his last bout, a regional pay-per-view in Canada that was essentially a domestic show. Lemieux now a demotivated fighter says that issue of making weight is no longer an issue at all.

“The weight issue, it’s been cleaned up. I changed a lot of things. As a fighter, I think all fighters know that it’s easy to mess up with the weight but changed a lot. Changes have been made. I’m stronger than ever and my body is going to be much different, so you guys will see on September 15.” said Lemieux.

Most interestingly and somewhat fairly, Lemieux made an astute point, that O’Sullivan resembles a lot of the characteristic of Curtis Stevens. I see it, but also think O’Sullivan has different proportions for his body as well as throws a lot more punches.

“I think Spike resembles a Curtis Stevens style, but I think he’s less of a boxer than Stevens was. Maybe a little more of a puncher — I didn’t see much of his punches. Maybe he’s a bit harder of a puncher.”

But I’m not really worried. I’m the hardest puncher in the ring on September 15, so I’m very confident in my abilities and everything I’m going to bring. I’m going to be in great shape. I’m concerned about absolutely nothing. All the skeptics, you know, that say, oh, is Lemieux going to come back? Well, I’m going to show you all on September 15: Lemieux is going to come back and Lemieux is going to do a lot of damage in the middleweight division.” said Lemieux as he spoke with renewed vigor.

O’Sullivan wasted no time in firing back with his analysis of what he thinks of Lemieux’s boxing style.

“I think he’s a one-trick pony. He does the same thing over and over again in all his fights, all the fights I’ve watched. He’s just does the same thing over and over and over again. So, you know what’s going to be coming.”

The fight has a lot on the line. The winner may get a shot at Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin, but lets say that doesn’t happen, they could still see a very profitable bout against popular Mexican super welterweight Jaime Munguia if Munguia were to move up to middleweight to pursue some very big fights.

O’Sullivan has brought in the same exact sparring partners that Billy Joe Saunders used when he defeated Lemieux and even stated that Lemieux pissed off Saunders so much so, that Saunders is offering him advice.

Lemieux, on the other hand, points to a tear in his labrum being the reason he struggled with Saunders so much. Lemieux warns that now he is fully healthy.

“I see myself as the favorite. Easily the favorite. I have to be the favorite.” said O’Sullivan as Lemieux quickly responded with an exchange ending in ‘Lemieux is back’.

“Lemieux will be on his back” said O’Sullivan quickly.

For Lemieux, this fight is everything as a loss here somewhat sees him riding off into the sunset and the words he used to capture the moment over the phone explained the urgency.

“Yeah, well, actually I have a lot to prove. The last two years haven’t been in my favor but things have changed. I’m ready to be back on top, so I’m ready to give the best of what I got, and I’m ready and I’m more ready than ever to do it against a guy like Spike O’Sullivan. Let’s give the fans a great show.” said Lemieux.

David Lemieux and “Spike” O’Sullivan will do battle September 15th in Las Vegas, Nevada from the T-Mobile Arena as part of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin II undercard, which will be broadcast on HBO pay-per-view