By Terence Dooley

Kirkby’s Tony Quigley lost his British super-middleweight title to fellow Liverpudlian Paul Smith at the ECHO Arena, Liverpool on Friday night.  Tony, 25, lost by scores of 116-114, 113-116 and 112-116; it was a close, scrappy affair with both men getting into a tangle on the inside and trying to nick rounds with the odd burst of quality punching.  Quigley, who now has a 13-2 (6) record, believes that he did enough to take a close but clear points verdict. 

“I thought it was a scruffy fight,” admitted Quigley.  “The styles didn’t gel but I thought I won the fight by a couple of rounds.  He didn’t do enough as a challenger, even if it was close, to take the belt away from the champion.  Like Carl Froch said with [Andre] Dirrell, if you want the belt so much then come and rip it away from the champion, and he [Smith] didn’t do that.

“He fought a negative fight, he backed off and that is not Paul Smith’s style.  I went looking for a fight.  I threw and landed more punches on the stats.  When I was holding he was looking to punch with the free hand, we were both doing that, it was dirty inside work but I was physically stronger than him and it worked better for me than it did for him.”

Quigley was annoyed with his performance but he also believes that the close nature of the fight is a reflection of his ability to dig out a result when not at his peak.  “My timing and distance was off, I boxed awful,” declared Quigley.

“I’m fuming at the way I boxed but people need to remember that I’m still learning, with only 15 fights behind me.  By 29 fights [the amount of contests Smith has had] you’d have to be near the finished article wouldn’t you?  So for him to fight like that to get the win for me, well he hasn’t done it in the best of fashions has he?

“I want the rematch to be honest with you.  Joe Calzaghe sent me a message saying that I got robbed.  John O’Donnell, another good boxer, sent me a message saying that I won the fight.  The people around me won’t bullshit me, they don’t kiss my backside and would tell me if I lost or wasn’t good enough.  Everyone around me - my manager, dad and friends - has told me that they think I won. 

“People on the street are saying, ‘You did enough there, lad’, and some people are saying I didn’t do enough but they all think its close, most people I meet think he didn’t do enough to take the belt away from me.”

Indeed, Quigley believes Smith paid him the ultimate compliment by boxing on the back foot.  “Paul Smith comes in trying to take your head off,” said Quigley.  “He throws a double-jab and then he loads up.  I was prepared to counter punch and box on my back foot, the first round came and he didn’t throw a punch.  I was expecting bombs at any time but he never did that.  I even turned southpaw to see if I could get him to throw the right hand.  Plus, I was taking away the left hook to the body and head that he likes to throw.  His main shot is that left hook to the body and head but how many of them did he land.  He couldn’t get those left hooks off.”

Tony is now on the outside looking in as far as the British title goes, with Smith likely to defend the title against someone else and wait for Tony to work his way back into contention, this rankles with Quigley. 

“If I got stopped or knocked out I’d have to rebuild.  My performance was poor, I’ve lost on a split decision and everyone thinks I’ve won – so I feel that the title has been nicked off me,” fumed Quigley. 

“I understand that the board might have rules about who he fights next but I’d like to be his next opponent.  Frank Warren told the crowd that he’d make the rematch but his fighter won the belt so why would he want to make a rematch?

“I think I’m ahead of Dodson on the simple fact that I knocked him out in my previous fight.  Brian Magee deserves a shot - I can’t say he doesn’t.  I couldn’t fight him [in June] because of my shoulder tendonitis only for Paul to suddenly become the mandatory challenger ahead of Magee, without fighting a top ten fighter. 

“I should be made mandatory after losing by a split decision.  Some of the officials, and top boxing people, have said to me that I won the fight.  I’m just another fighter on the circuit to them so they don’t have to say this about me.  The champion forced the fight in this one.  Imagine what the fight would have been like if I hadn’t done that.  Before the fight he was giving it the, I don’t like to use the word, big ‘un about me running away from him – he asked me if I was going to stand at fight at the press conference.  I stood there and fought and he went and ran!”

Still, the pre-fight ballyhoo was put to one side at the final bell; both boxers embraced and congratulated each other.  Quigley, however, told me that the in-ring rivalry between him and Smith would always be there.

“We’re always going to have that rivalry because we’re professional fighters.  He’s got my belt.  I’d fight him tomorrow but I have to play the game in the meantime and see who is up next to fight him.  I have to get myself back in line,” stated Quigley.

“I hadn’t been past six-rounds before the Tony Dodson fight.  Smith’d been to America, won a belt and fought guys with 40-odd fights and all that but I got in there and fought him anyway.  The only decent round he had was the twelfth round, when I had nothing left, that was his best round in the whole fight.

“The low blow in round eleven [a right hand] caused me to fade in the final round.  I was doing Ok until that shot - I was actually landing more punches up to the low blow.  Two minutes before the low blow I had the round but then he came out and nicked the round with a combo near the end.

“In the twelfth, I was feeling the effect of the low blow, I’m still sore from it today, and he won that round, no one is contesting that, but there are eleven other rounds before that one.  Some were hard to score but if there is not much going on in the round with the punches then you have to look at the aggressor, who is the one trying to land the punches and make the pace, who is the champion?  That is how you score fights.  If he is backing off and I’m coming forward you have to go with the aggressor, everyone might have their own opinion on that but that is what I’d score on if I was a judge.”

Finally, Quigley concluded that his recent showings have shown that he belongs amongst the title elite; firstly, though, he pushed his case for the final time.  “I am willing to tell anyone how I feel.  I’m not here on the phone screaming that I got robbed.  I’m saying that it was a close fight with close rounds but I’m the champion and the one pushing the rounds and he didn’t do enough to take the belt,” reiterated Quigley.

“Technique-wise I boxed terrible, I’m not happy with that.  But if you aren’t boxing well you don’t just give in, you get stuck in and I fought my way through the rounds.  That is the sign of a champion - if plan A doesn’t work you go to plan B.

“I belong at this level.  If I belong here when boxing poorly, like I did in this and the Dodson fight, then imagine what I’ll be like when I’m boxing well and using my strength, my aggression and ability – I’ll more than belong at this class.  I won against Dodson when suffering from a knee injury and I did it by standing there with him.  I stood there against Paul as well and these guys are supposed to be big punchers.  I’ve done 24-rounds with two guys who have had more stoppages between them than I’ve had fights.  Neither one has put me down or in trouble so what does that say about my heart.”

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