Jason Quigley Resumes Training, Hopes To Return by Year's End

By Ryan Burton

The last time we saw Jason Quigley (13-0) in the ring he won an unanimous decision over Glen Tapia in Indio, California.  The performance was far from one of the best in Quigley's career but after the fight it was revealed that he injured his hand in the second round and basically fought with one hand from there on.

BoxingScene.com recently caught up with the 26-year-old Irishman who said that surgery on his hand was a success and that he had been cleared to resume training.

"Everything is good right now. I got the go ahead from the doctor on Tuesday. Everything is looking great. The tendons are looking great. The bones are looking good so I can get back with some therapy and start light punching this week. I was back yesterday in the gym and did some pad work. No real hard nuts or anything, just some shadow boxing and pad work, some double end work and just getting back in the motion of things," said the former amateur standout.

"To be honest it was five and a half months with the hand being immobilized so it will take it a while to get loosened up and for all the muscles and tendons and everything in the hand to get used to going to work again. Everything is good and most importantly I am delighted again to get back in the ring and to get the go ahead to start making plans for future fights."

Quigley, who captured the NABF middleweight title in the win versus Tapia, said that his next fight date is still up in the air.  He hopes to return by the end of the year but a lot will depend on how long it takes to get his hand back in fighting shape.

"Hopefully by the end of this year and if not then early next year. I am going back to Ireland on Sunday and I will be back there for a week or two weeks then go straight back to LA to start getting ready for a fight," he explained.

A for the criticism he received after the Tapia fight, Quigley looks at it as a positive.  He proved that he could not only fight with an injury but also conceal it from his opponent.

If the situation ever arises again he is confident that he will be able to overcome it again and pull out another victory.

"To be honest I am delighted that nobody noticed and that I got all the criticism because that showed that I didn't show my opponent Glen Tapia the injury and that was the number one goal to not show that I had broken my hand in the second round. If I had let them know I had broke my hand and made it obvious it could have been a different fight. I am 100% getting into the ring with two hands but once you break one and one is gone you are only 50% of the fighter that you are so I had to dig deep and pull out the performance," Quigley told BoxingScene.com.

"On a scale without any injuries that performance is well below par but when you look at the circumstances that was a good performance. It was good to get the victory and get the win on my first headline show at a sold out arena in my first title fight so it was good to get that and now it is time to learn from it and move on and come back bigger and better."

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