Donegal In This Together – Brett McGinty returning the favour for Jason Quigley
The fact he provides support to a fighter that has supported him since his school days isn’t lost on Brett McGinty [6(1)-0].
The Donegal light middleweight is one of the support acts on the Jason Quigley-topped ‘The Return’ card at the National Stadium in Dublin this Saturday.
It means McGinty can lend a hand, in a business sense, selling tickets, creating an atmosphere and so forth, before lending his voice to cheer on his now manager – things Quigley has done forhim to a degree over the years.
The Ricky Hatton-trained fighter recalls Quigley calling into his old school, Deele College in Raphoe, and giving him some words of advice when he was a boxing-mad teen.
“I remember when Jason won his European gold and he came into the school. He had a chat to us and he took me to lunch the same day,” he starts when asked about his relationship with the bill-topper.
“I looked up to Jason. He was flying in the amateurs that time. Now, I’ve been lucky enough to have sparred with Jason three times in this camp. I’ve got a few rounds in with him and it’s great we can help each other out. The man has fought at the pinnacle of the sport. It didn’t go his way, but he has been there and done it at the top level.”
“He’s coming home now and giving all the Irish fans a chance to see him. It’s brilliant for Donegal and it’s brilliant for Irish boxing.”
McGinty also has a relationship with Saturday’s venue, The National Stadium.
The South Circular Road venue is where he has celebrated the majority of his successes and a place he loves to fight at.
“There’s not a better venue in the country. There aren’t many purpose-built boxing venues, but it’s one of them. It doesn’t matter if there are 50 people in it or there are 500, they’ll all make noise and it creates a good atmosphere. Most of us on the card have fought there as amateurs and we’re looking forward to fighting there as pros,” adds the extremely well-supported St Johnstone man.
McGinty fights Patrik Fiala[5(3)-3(2)] on a card that also includes fights for the Walsh brothers Liam and Paddy, the Donovans Paddy and Edward, James McGivern and Daniel O’Sullivan.
The Czech fighter has fought mostly at light heavyweight making him the second much bigger man in a row the Oakleaf graduate will face – not that he minds.
“There were things that I could have done better in that fight, but it was a proper fight. He came for a fight and that’s what happened. He was a lot bigger than me. He fights a lot of the time at super-middle and he came down. I’m giving away weight to these boys and this one will be the same. Ideally, I want to fight at super-welter when it comes to titles, but I don’t mind what weight I fight if I get a fight.
“That last fight was a proper fight with a man who didn’t just want his few pounds. In that sense, it was a good one.
