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In The Zone – Jason Quigley can sense big DAZN World Title opportunities


Jason Quigley [15(11)-0] missed the public workout in London last night ahead of his first fight on this side of the world due to a dental appointment and the Donegal middleweight is planning to have a lot to smile about over the next year or so.

The Golden Boy prospect boxes on the big Matchroom card at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, where he will face where he will face Finland’s Mathias Eklund [10(4)-1(0)-2] over ten rounds.

It’s Quigley’s first fight of the year following two bouts upon his return from injury in 2018. However, that year was somewhat frustrating for the Ballybofey man who saw a breakthrough clash with Japanese star Ryota Murata fall through.

Quigley now wants to get going in 2019 and is aiming to sneak up to world title level very soon.

A fight building his profile on this side of the Atlantic further would look to make sense and Quigley explained how he is “coming over to London with 15 pro fights that have all been over on the West Coast and East Coast of America.”

“The reason that I’m over this side of The Pond is that I’m training in Sheffield with Dom Ingle and training’s been going great, camp’s been going great, I’m feeling good, and I’m looking to put a show on now on Saturday night.”

“I’m delighted that my management team, Sheer Sports, and Golden Boy Promotions and Eddie [Hearn, Matchroom boss] have worked together to get me on this card in London.”

“I remember one of the first times I spoke to Eddie was the Kell Brook fight, when he boxed [Shawn Porter] over in Carson in California and Eddie came up to me and said ‘we’re going to have to get you over in the UK sometime’, four years later we did it!”

Quigley fights on the undercard of Charlie Edwards’s maiden WBC flyweight title defence against Spaniard Angel Moreno and he is hoping for title opportunities of his own in the near future.

Matchroom currently promoter WBO champ Demetrius Andrade and IBF titlist Danny Jacobs – who looks to unify against Quigley’s Golden Boy stablemate and WBC and WBA champ Canelo Alvarez in May.

Both promotional outfits are linked to big-money streaming platform DAZN – along with former champ Gennady Golovkin – and Quigley can sense the opportunity.

The aware Finn Valley man described how “I’m absolutely delighted to be a middleweight in this prime time with the likes of Golden Boy, DAZN, and Matchroom working together now. All the big names, all the big fights, are with that team

“I’m ranked #5 with the WBC [and #9 with the WBA] and that green belt that Charlie has over there, I’ve got my eyes on that – not Charlie’s! The WBC middleweight one.”

“It’s exciting times for me. All those lads are up there, they’re looking at each other but I’m on their heels, I’m looking at them right now and chasing them down.

There’s no worries about his teeth either, by the way, with Quigley saying he hasn’t got “the Michael Conlan ones, don’t worry!”

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Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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