By Francisco Salazar
It has been quite a year for Jason Quigley.
The Irish-born fighter made his pro debut on July 12 of last year, stopping Howard Reece in the first round. A day short of a year later, Quigley has fought six more times, winning all of them by knockout.
Those may be great accomplishments thus far for any fighter. But Quigley wants more and is eager to prove he could get better.
Quigley (7-0, 7 KOs) is coming off a second round knockout win over Tom Howard on July 11, a fight in which the Irish-born fighter dropped him multiple times before the fight was mercifully stopped.
The 24-year-old Quigley is quickly becoming a fighter to watch in Southern California, where he currently resides. While knockouts are great and appealing to fight fans, Quigley has a mentality that few prospects his age possess.
"That's why I'm performing the way I am," Quigley to BoxingScene.com recently. "I'm in the gym with prospects. I'm in the gym with hungry guys. I'm in the gym with guys who want to get to where I want to get. We're all fighting for the same thing. (We) all have the same hunger. It's been absolutely amazing. Feeding off each other, iron sharpens iron, success breeds success. That's the way we work at the Rock Gym (in Carson, Calif.) and we hope to keep it going the way it's going."
Fighters often sacrifice in their road towards their lofty goals. Families, friends, and spouses almost become an afterthought.
For Quigley, it is that and migrating to a new country. Quigley has had to leave his loved ones behind in Ireland, but it is something that has to be done.
"It's a big move coming over here," said Quigley, who competes as a super middleweight. "Leaving family, friends, loved ones, my girlfriend, everything like that. It can be very difficult. You really find yourself. You really find out about other people as well, what they're really about and everything. It's a massive life-changing experience for me and it's all positive. Everything is going great. I couldn't be happier. Putting in a great performance like this one (on July 11), it makes it all worthwhile."
Quigley would not mind fighting another seven times in a year, but he is mindful about burn out and his health.
Quigley is quickly building a fan base in Southern California. He does have a fan-friendly style and Golden Boy, which promotes him, may consider televising his fights in the immediate future.
Just like most Mexican-American fight fans have embraced Gennady Golovkin for his aggressive style, Quigley believes his pedigree could do the same.
"It's absolutely amazing to have the Mexican fans behind me. It's absolutely unbelievable. I think there are a lot of similarities between the Mexicans and the Irish. We love to drink, we love to party, we love to fight. To get the Mexicans behind me is absolutely amazing. My favorite fighter is Marco Antonio Barrera. I'm really grateful of the support from not only the Mexicans, L.A. or the Americans, even on Facebook."
Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing