THE symbol on his gear is a mystery to most, but those close to Jason Quigley get the meaning of the % sign.
Quigley enters the ring for his eighth professional fight tonight at the Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, California.
Quigley, who won all seven of his previous bouts since turning pro in 2014, meets Michael Faulk, who is returning to the ring after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus.
Last month, Tom Howard was picked in an attempt to take Quigley the distance, but the Ballybofey man ended the contest in the second round (Quigley is pictured with his team after the win).
He goes to make it 8-0 when he faces Faulk in the sweltering heat of the desert.
He’ll aim to ‘rise the percentage’ again. It stems from his days on the beat in the Finn Valley.
“Before we’d go on a night out, we’d ask each other: ‘What’s your percentage?’,” says Quigley.
“You need to be up close to 100 per cent to have a really good night and the call during the night would be: ‘Rise the percentage! Rise the percentage!’”
The % sign stitched into the fabric of his tracksuit and robes is something that means a lot.
For Quigley, his fight against Faulk means another step up the ladder.
“You just have to keep rising,” he says.
“Before we’d go out for a night out, we’d always say that you had to have the percentage rising to 100. You can bring that into every aspect of life. You shouldn’t do anything at 60 or 70 per cent.”
It’s a scheduled six-rounder, but Quigley won’t hesitate in swiftly ending the bout. (Video from weigh in is below).
It’s been a theme: Howard Reece was KO’d after 82 seconds; Fernando Najera retired on the stool at the end of round three; Greg McCoy was floored in two minutes and 39 seconds; Lanny Darder was ended in just 94 seconds; Tolutomi Agunbiade, Joshua Snyder and Tom Howard were all stopped in the second round.
Quigley says: “There’ll be a time when I’ll be up against boys who just won’t budge. There comes a time, too, when you’ll be against boys who’ll put you on your arse and you just have to get back up.
“I’m just in to get them out of there. I’m prepared to go to war and go the distance if that has to happen. If I can get the job done as quick as I can, I’ll do that. One shot or one head clash could change a fight, change a career or change a life.”
His girlfriend, April McManus, was ringside for the win over Howard, but flew back home last week.
Quigley has been fortunate to have familiar faces at all of his bouts. Conor Scanlon and Kevin Gillespie were also at the LA Sports Arena last month and Gillespie will be shouting him on this time around having spent most of the summer living with the Golden Boy prospect in Marina del Rey.
Quigley says: “That makes it special when you have people close to you who are there to celebrate it.
“People traveling over for my fights is just amazing. For every fight, I’ve had a few recognisable faces from home. That means the world to me.
“There’s nothing I want more than a homecoming fight. I’d love to be able to give something back to the people in Ireland who have supported me and people who have been with me. I can just think of the hell of a noise they’ll make. It’s a big dream to have a fight back at home.”
That homecoming bout would inch even closer to becoming reality with a win over Faulk.
The confidence is just oozing from Quigley.
He says: “I’m always confident. I train and prepare myself to the best of my ability.
“I was given skill and talent so I want to put those to good use. A lot of people out there don’t have this opportunity or were never given this opportunity. I have been very lucky in life to get the chances that I have so I want to grab them with both hands. These opportunities can slip away.”
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