Sparing the audience trash talk, Irish middleweight Jason Quigley’s final words, before he takes to the ring on Friday night in Manchester, New Hampshire, were respectful but firmly rooted in what he believes will be the outcome.
“I’m looking to get in there, fight the fight of my career and become a world champion,” said the 30-year-old Donegal middleweight.
Quigley was the amateur who burst onto the stage in 2013, winning a gold medal at the European Championships in Minsk and taking silver at the World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. His defeat in the amateur final was the first in a breathless winning run of 33 fights over 18 months.
Breaking hearts in the amateur game, Quigley turned professional at 22-years-old with a goal to be involved in world championship fights with tonight's against the 2007 amateur world champion and professional WBO champion, Demetrius Andrade, the culmination of eight years work.
This will be Andrade’s sixth defence of his belt, having done so successfully five times before to take his record to 30-0 with 18KOs to Quigley’s 19-1 with 14KOs. Quigley’s only professional loss came against Tureano Johnson in 2019 when trainer Dominic Ingle retired him after nine rounds.
Since then the Ballybofey boxer has been rebuilding his career to set up a world championship shot. There’s no doubt it is a step up. Quigley goes in as the underdog with Andrande, the 33-year-old American southpaw ranked by Ring Magazine as the third best middleweight in the world as well as holding the WBO title.
Quigley, who is full of hunger and has plenty of ability knows what a difficult test it’s going to be and follows in the footsteps of fellow Irish fighter, Dublin’s Luke Keeler who was stopped in the ninth round of his bout with Andrade in January, 2020.
“This is a very exciting time for me and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” said Quigley. “It seems crazy fighting Demitrius for the world title because I remember watching him in the world boxing championships in Chicago when I was a youth in the amateur (Irish) team.
“Didn’t think back then I’d be challenging him for a world title this time in my career but I’m here now, looking forward to it and really excited about stepping into the ring.”
For Quigley the journey to this point has been longer than he had imagined when he signed up with the charismatic Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy promotions.
The defeat to Johnson stalled his rise but not unlike Irish middleweight Andy Lee, who reignited his career when he knocked out the hard hitting John Jackson before claiming the WBO world title with a sixth round TKO against the then unbeaten Russian Matt Korobov, Quigley has a fighter's chance.
He’s also taking the fight with Andrade’s camp unceremoniously claiming that the bigger names in the division have been avoiding him.
“Look if I was Demetrius I’d be p*ssed that he hasn’t got those big fights,” said Quigley. “He’s the world champion. I believe he is the best world champion in the middleweight right now. All these guys, the likes of Canelo (Alvarez) and (Gennedy) Golovkin are avoiding him because of his talent and skills. He’s a very skillful fighter.”
While acknowledging Adrade’s proven ability, Quigley brings confidence to the bout to cause a huge upset. It will also make him the first man to beat Andrade and take the belt previously held by Lee and Steve Collins back to Ireland.
“In the build-up to the fight it’s about controlling emotions, the nervous energy,” said Quigley. “You have the natural excitement inside of course, but I have a job to do, to get in there and take care of business.
“That’s been the mindset for me, I have prepared as hard for this fight as any other that I’ve had.”
