A different animal – Jason Quigley believes he proved himself in comeback clash

With Golden Boy’s new plan being to build Jason Quigley in the Irish cities on the U.S. East Coast rather than the heavily Hispanic West Coast, the Donegal middleweight is moving away from his ‘El Animal’ ring moniker.

Bestowed upon him while at ‘The Rock Gym’ in Carson, California, due to his relentless approach to training, Quigley showed that this ferocity can also be said of his fighting style on Saturday night.

Returning after just over a year out with injury, Quigley [14(11)-0] crumpled tough Puerto Rican Daniel Rosario Cruz live on ESPN2 and eir Sport 1 at the Marina Bay SportComplex in the Boston suburb of Quincy.

Left hooks to the liver twice sent the Caribbean fighter down in the sixth round (Watch Here), rounding off a satisfactory comeback for Quigley – whom Eric Donovan has since christened ‘An t-Ainmhí’.

Looking back on the fight, Quigley noted how “he was a tough kid, he’d never been stopped and I knew coming into this fight that this was the perfect fight for me to get back to myself and see where I’m at.”

“I broke him down early on, shook the ring rust off, and took him out when I had the ring rust off.”

“I hurt him to the body and I could see him wincing. They call me ‘The Animal’, that name is kind of changing, but I think I proved I am an animal tonight again.”

His first fight since breaking his hand in a gruelling encounter with Glen Tapia last year, Quigley was happy to report that, after some initial trepidation, the right paw is firing on all cylinders.

Quigley admitted that “of course, there were a lot of doubts in my head over letting my right hand go.”

“I landed it early, hurt him early, but I didn’t go for the knockout because I knew he was a tough kid.”

Saturday’s clash was also the Ballybofey fighters first under new trainer Dominic Ingle and Quigley credited the Wincobank Gym for preparing him for a testing return.

The 26-year-old described how “I work hard, I leave no stone unturned, and that’s why I won.”

“I want to thank my new coach Dominic Ingle for getting me into shape because that was a tough kid and I needed to be in shape.”

“My new team helped me break my opponent down. ”