‘Nailed on’ Quigley – Cullen clash missing from Matchroom Garden Party guest list

There was an notable Irish omission as Eddie Hearn confirmed the Fight Camp line up this afternoon.

There was great news for James Tennyson, surprise news about Eric Donovan and half news with regard to Katie Taylor as Matchroom revealed four fight cards and almost 20 decent fights.

However, the lack of news about Jason Quigley [18(14)-1(1)] was obvious for those wearing green-tinted glasses.

An anticipated clash between the popular Donegal fighter and Jack Cullen [18(9)-2(2)] was a ‘nailed on’ Irish interest fight set for the four-card series.

The middleweight match up has been mooted since as far back as March, Eddie Hearn claiming he felt it was a perfect fit for the undercard of Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin’s heavyweight clash.

Talk of what is an intriguing 160lbs contest began to grow during Jono Carroll v Scott Quigg fight week and the fight was eventually confirmed for Manchester and May 2nd.

The pandemic put paid to that card and all the fights on it, but it was believed the Donegal v Bolton battle was more postponed than scrapped.

Both parties continued to talk positively with regard to the match up – and it was widely believed the Golden Boy fighter and Cullen would meet on one of the proposed Matchroom HQ-hosted cards.

Today, when confirming the line-up of all four fight nights, many expected Eddie Hearn to officially confirmed the 29-year-old World Championships silver medal winner and the recent Commonwealth title challenger would face off.

However, the clash was not mentioned and certainly not officially confirmed.

Hope does remain as talk within boxing has the fight agreed and rumour now suggests their is just a slight delay in rubber stamping the clash.

The fact there remains only four fights confirmed for a five fight August 22 card, the bill Quigley was said to appear on, fuels that hope and the ‘it’s only a matter of time’ rumours.

The popular Laghy fighter and ‘Little Leaver’s Meat Cleaver’ are still likely to fight on August 22nd.

The Andy Lee-trained Quigley is hoping to close in on a world title fight in 2020.

Having put some distance between himself and his sole career defeat to Tureano Johnson, the Sheer Sports managed fighter was said to be targeting a fight that could move him within touching distance of a 160lbs tilt.

Cullen, doesn’t quite have the ranking to do just that, but it does look an ideal fight on the ideal platform.

Quigley would get to face an emerging British talent, known to Irish boxing fans, on a show with cross over interest and much closer to home.

Victory on the PPV card would help Quigley’s UK profile and would allow more Irish fans to watch and invest in his performance live.

It would also see the fan friendly operator share a card with Katie Taylor, which opens the door to suggestions that Hearn may be linking the two feeling they could be the double act.

Cullen will be know to Irish fight fans from his Last Man Standing appearance. The 26-year-old beat Nick Quigley and former BUI Celtic Champion Chris Blaney in the National Stadium before losing to Roy Sheahan in the tournament decider.