By Thomas Gerbasi

As unbeaten Irish middleweight Jason Quigley prepares to face Jorge Melendez on the Bernard Hopkins vs. Joe Smith undercard in Inglewood on Dec. 17, this is probably as good a time as any to ask if Quigley could picture himself in the ring at 51 years old like Hopkins.

He laughs, knowing that at 25, he’s still got plenty of time to achieve everything he wants to in his career and still get out long before the half-century mark. Fighting until 50? That’s nothing anyone his age thinks about, but there are little reminders here and there that this isn’t a sport isn’t one built for longevity.

Earlier this year, Quigley got one such reminder when he injured his wrist, costing him a spot on the Canelo Alvarez-Liam Smith card in September. It wasn’t a major injury, but one that stung – perhaps mentally more than physically.

“I’m a fighter,” he said. “It’s like a shark; he belongs in the water. I’m a fighter and I belong in the ring. That’s my place, that’s where I belong, and I’ve been out of there now for a while. So it’s been tough. But for me right now, it’s developed me as a person and as a fighter with experience of going through injury, of staying out of the ring, of going through training camps with an injury, having to pull out, getting back into training camp, and resetting the body again, resetting the clock and starting all over again. The experience that I have gained through this time has been unbelievable, and I believe it was meant to be for me to prepare me for something in the future leading up to even a bigger fight.”

It’s the response we’ve come to expect from Quigley, who left his home in Donegal after a stellar amateur career to begin his pro journey in southern California. That takes a dose of maturity not many people his age can muster – at least not on a consistent basis – so it’s really no surprise that after not being able to follow up his shutout win over James De La Rosa in September, he handled everything like a pro.

That doesn’t mean Quigley is a robot, though. He is still 25 years old, and after finding out that his next fight would be delayed, he decided to unwind a bit back home in Ireland.

“I said I’m going to go home to my people, to my loved ones, and just be a regular 25-year-old guy and forget about boxing and the disappointment,” Quigley said. “And that’s exactly what I did. I went back home, I had a good time, and then I came back to LA with a lot of hunger, with a lot of fire deep inside, ready for my next shot.”

But did he come back as a cruiserweight?

“Well, to be honest, I thought I might have to go to heavyweight,” he laughs. “But I’m not too bad – the weight’s come off.”

And on the 17th, it will be his next big test in the form of Melendez. Sure, the Puerto Rico native has hit some hard times, going 2-4 in his last six, but he still can crack, and at 27, he may have a few good fights left in him. But that’s for Quigley to find out, and as a true fighter, he wants to.

“This is the stage of my career that I’ve always looked forward to,” he said. “These fights are the ones that are gonna get you to that next level. This is real professional boxing right now. This is where you start taking taking the steps, this is where it gets exciting and gets to the point that you have to take chances, you have to take risks. And this is what’s so exciting about boxing, because one shot can change it all, and that’s why people come to watch. No matter who fights who, one shot and the fight can be over or the fight can be changed.”

This willingness to walk right into the line of fire is what has garnered Irish fighters such a fanbase over the years. But for the most part, it’s always been just one or two fighters that had the nation behind them. Today, Irish boxing appears to be entering a Golden Age of sorts, with Quigley, Carl Frampton, Mick Conlan and Katie Taylor all getting plenty of attention as they wave the flags of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“This is definitely a new chapter in Irish professional boxing,” Quigley agrees. “Not only myself, but the likes of Katie Taylor, Michael Conlan, Carl Frampton. All these great fighters are starting to put Ireland on the map in professional boxing. Okay, we might have had Barry McGuigan, Wayne McCullough and Steve Collins, all in their own eras. But now you’re starting to get three, four, five world-class fighters, all in the same era from Ireland, and it’s going to be amazing for Irish boxing. It’s going to be great for the people of Ireland to get excited again and not only to be following one fighter, but to be following a number of fighters.”

So how does Quigley explain everything coming together at this time, as opposed to the aforementioned trio of McGuigan, Collins and McCullough, who could easily be seen as representing the 80s, 90s, and 00s and not being in their prime at the same time?
 
“We realize that there’s more out there than amateur boxing,” he said. “That’s exactly what I did. I reached the heights in amateur boxing. The only thing that I didn’t get to was the Olympic Games. But was I going to wait around another four years and maybe get cut or get a bad decision or something like that and waste four years? There’s no way I was going to do that. I was top of the tree in amateur boxing and I just said, ‘Look, I’ve served my time here for Ireland, and now it’s time to go and start earning some real money,’ and that’s exactly what I did. I think that’s exactly what the rest of the fighters are doing now as well.”

“Served his time?” Sounds like amateur boxing was a prison sentence.

He laughs.

“To be honest, it’s like a minefield whenever you go to the European or World boxing championships,” he said. “I would have five fights in seven days, and to come out of that and not get cut or not get injured and have to fight the next day and make weight every day, it’s definitely tough. So I would say I was like a soldier. I served my time for my country.”

Ireland appreciates it, and they haven’t stopped supporting Quigley and his boxing peers, not to mention mixed martial artists like UFC champion Conor McGregor. To see the reaction of the Irish fans both here and abroad to their fighters, it reminds you just how important this sport can be. It’s something Quigley doesn’t take for granted.

“It is something special, and that’s why a lot of Irish people go on to do great things and a lot of Irish people have such a big heart and such a big determination and a want to win and a drive to win,” he said. “It’s because we’re not only fighting for ourselves. We’re fighting for our country. We know the proud Irish people that are behind us, the passion that they carry, and the hope that they have in us to go out and achieve. Ireland’s always looked at as a small nation and it might not get taken seriously a lot of the time, so for us to go out there and be performing on world stages, beating guys from America and Russia and China - these big, powerful countries – that gives us Irish people a lot of pride, a lot of passion, and I suppose hope as well. The Irish people, not in my generation, but in the generation before mine, have been through a lot of hard times and tough times, and it’s great now to be able to give back and to have success and make Ireland proud.”

And while he doesn’t plan on fighting another 26 years, Quigley does have big plans for the future, starting with a win on December 17 and then a lot more in 2017.

“Right now, the only thing on my mind is December 17th, getting a great victory, putting on a great performance, finishing the year off with a bang, and then going into 2017 with a bang also. After this fight I’m going to go home, have a great Christmas and come back and destroy everything in front of me from 2017 on.”