Jason Quigley Aims To Please Fans With More Knockouts

By Thomas Gerbasi

It was no surprise that the Irish community in the Big Apple took Jason Quigley in and made him feel at home when the Donegal native spent a few days in New York last month to take in the Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux bout at Madison Square Garden.

“To be honest, it was just as good as going back home to Ireland,” said the unbeaten middleweight prospect. “I went out to a few Irish bars when I got the chance, and everybody I met knew somebody I knew, or I knew their brothers or sisters or uncles. (Laughs) And of course I loved every moment of being there.”

Yet as soon as Golovkin dispatched of Lemieux in eight rounds, Quigley was back on a plane – not to the Emerald Isle, but to Los Angeles. It’s been the 24-year-old’s home since he turned pro in 2014 after a stellar amateur career, and if it seems strange that he didn’t settle in on the east coast like several fighters of Irish descent like Steve Collins, John Duddy, John Joe Nevin and British-born Matthew Macklin have over the years, it is. But it was also the right move for Quigley.

“For me, coming to the west coast, there are barely any Irish here,” he said. “For me to find Irish people is very difficult. And I’m not saying there’s anything bad against Irish people, but it’s good in a way because it helps me stay focused, stay on track and keep my goals set on the reason that I’m here. After Golovkin-Lemieux, I was looking forward to getting back to LA to get focused again and away from all the distractions and all the hype. I needed to concentrate on why I’m here and what I’m here to do.”

In a place like New York City, Quigley would have been the toast of the town on the boxing scene, and the affable up and comer could handle that level of attention. But why bother if you can learn your trade, not have to worry about having your every move documented, and not be forced up the ladder sooner than you’re ready for it. That’s not to say he doesn’t miss home.

“It’s a big, massive culture change, weather change; absolutely everything is a change coming here to LA for me,” Quigley said. “But it’s a change I had to make to make my career go to the top. When it comes to fighters making it big, it’s always LA, it’s always Vegas where these big fights are, where all this happens. So my philosophy was, why not get out there early, see what it’s all about, and when it comes to the big stage, it’s not gonna be a big stage for me. It’s gonna be my home, it’s gonna be my background.”

The strategy is working so far, with Quigley at 8-0 with eight knockouts heading into a Friday bout at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas against 6-1 Marchristopher Adkins, best known for handing Shane Mosley Jr. his first pro loss in September of 2014. For Quigley, this fight is an opportunity to get even more eyeballs on him during the Cotto vs. Canelo weekend, and while he’s early in his career, he’s got the right attitude to keep himself in the spotlight.

“This is a business and I need to put people in the seats and I need to entertain people,” he said. “If I see one weakness in my opponent, I smell blood and I’m ready to take that guy out of there. There’s no holding me back. And I think that’s what the fans see and what the people are following me for right now.”

His ability to flip the switch and dispatch opponents in a flash is in stark contrast to his personality outside the ring, something he believes he owes to his upbringing in Donegal.

“In Ireland, you have one extreme to the next,” he said. “Where I come from, it’s a very small town with like 4,000 people. And then you drive a few hours east and you have Dublin, which is the big city. It’s a different lifestyle, a different way of being brought up.  I was brought up in a very low-key area in a housing estate with seven houses in it. I’m sure that there’s a place in Dublin that has maybe 700 houses. It’s a completely different upbringing coming from Donegal and coming from Dublin. To be honest, it’s like being brought up in two different cultures.”

But as he says, no matter where you come from in Ireland, you’re all Irish, and he hopes that everyone from Donegal to Dublin and all points in between will be in attendance when he returns for what he hopes will not just be a fight, but an event.

“I don’t want to come back to Ireland and fight a 10-round fight,” he said. “I want people for a year before to be saying ‘let’s book work off, let’s save up, let’s get the money together and get our ass to this fight.’ I don’t want to put on boxing shows, I want to make boxing events in Ireland again, and I want to bring professional boxing back with a bang.”

If anyone has that potential, it’s Quigley, and though he’s content with being patient and taking his time getting there, his eyes are never too far from the top of the mountain.

“I normally don’t look too far ahead of myself, but when I do, the only thing I look for is who the champion is right now. And these are the guys that I’m watching. I wasn’t in New York to go around Irish bars and say hi to everybody; I was in New York to do my homework on GGG and Lemieux. I was there on business. But for me, the next aim and the next goal in my career is November 20th in Vegas, because the next man who gets in the ring with me is there to take something away from me. And I’ve sacrificed too much. I’ve worked my ass off, I’ve worked too hard to let any man get into the ring and take anything away from me.”