JASON QUIGLEY was raised on a diet of boxing and heard countless tales of Irish boxing’s big nights as he grew up.
His father, Conor, a former Irish champion, was always a connoisseur of the sweet science and attended Steve Collins’ famous jousts with Chris Eubank in Cork in 1995.
In the 90s, Irish boxing heralded champions like Collins and Wayne McCullough, while the likes of Andy Lee, Bernard Dunne and, most recently, Carl Frampton, have hit the high notes.
Quigley wants to bring the big fights, the big shows and the big names back to Ireland.
[adrotate group=”53″]The Ballybofey man was at Dunne’s loss to Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym at The O2 in 2009, at the invite of Brian Peters, now working with Katie Taylor.
Quigley was taken by the atmosphere – ‘the beating of the live drums that night was just unbelievable’ he says – that night and wants to headline similar shows back home.
“I want to have the Irish people excited,” says Golden Boy Promotions’ 11-0 middleweight, who fights Jorgé Melendez on Saturday night at The Forum in Los Angeles.
[adrotate group=”88″]“It is one of my biggest goals: to bring massive fights back to Ireland. To bring big, exciting fights back. To get the Irish people excited about going to fights. All these big fights are in Vegas, New York, London.
“My father used to tell me about the big shows in the 90s…Heading away on a bus with the lads, going to the fights, an aul takeaway after it. I want people in 20 years’ time to be talking about my fights like that. Making memories for people.
“Now is the time to bring it to Ireland, us young fighters who have served our time at amateur level and are working our way up.”
Quigley’s former Team Ireland colleagues Michael Conlan, Paddy Barnes and Katie Taylor have all turned professional inside the last four months.
[adrotate group=”46″]Belfast bantamweight Conlan is to team up with Quigley at The Rock Gym in Carson, under trainer Manny Robles and Quigley sees big opportunities on the horizon for Ireland’s new batch of World title hopefuls.
“We have the opportunity to give back to the Irish people,” Quigley says.
“I want to give back to the people who have followed me, traveling up and down to that stadium on the good days and bad.
I want to give people a chance to say: ‘Jeez, Quigley is fighting in Dublin, we’ll have to get up to that’. Something so simple and not: ‘Quigley’s on in Vegas, we won’t get to that.’ I want to give people an opportunity to see me fight. That is a future dream and plan.
[adrotate group=”76”]“I be in touch with Katie often. She is one of the most nice people you could meet. She is such a humble, lovely, down to earth person. What she has done for Ireland and the sport of boxing is unbelievable. To share a card with Katie would be unbelievable – imagine if that happened!
“Me and Mick are teaming up and that is going to be exciting. We are definitely going to put on big cards in the future.”
LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/jason-quigley-before-jorge-melendez-fight
Tags: