Jason Quigley (boxer)

Amateur career

Quigley had an extremely promising amateur career, which saw him rise to number one in both the AIBA European and World amateur rankings. His place in the Ireland team had seemed secured for the 2016 Summer Olympics, however he decided to turn professional instead.

2009 | European Youth Championships

In 2009, Quigley participated in the European Youth Championships in Szezecin. He fought Joni Polishsuk of Finland, Catalin Paraschiveanu of Romania, Muratcan Buğra Oner of Turkey and Jaba Khocitashvili of Georgia, before defeating Emil Ahmadov of Azerbaijan 6-1 in the 69 kg final, to take home gold.

2011 | Multi-Nations Tournament

Quigley won gold at the 2011 'Gee Bee' Multi-Nations tournament in Helsinki, Finland, defeating English fighter Anthony Ogogo 14-5 with an acclaimed performance in the final.

2011 | World Series of Boxing

Quigley boxed in the WSB for the 2011-2012 season. Organised by the AIBA, the competition was designed to offer professional boxing without competitors having to forfeit their amateur status. Fight Fax Inc, the official US boxing record keeper, considers all WSB fights as legitimate professional fights, because by law the participants were professionally licensed by the state boxing commissions, on professionally licensed cards with professional judges and referees. Fight Fax (according to the law) would therefore see this as the start of Quigley's pro career, however it is still a matter of debate. With twelve teams fighting across the competition, it was the LA Matadors who drafted Quigley. Quigley then lived and trained in Los Angeles where he met Russian fighter Vitali Bandarenka of Moscow Dynamo in his first bout. Quigley won the fight by unanimous decision with the judges scoring them 50-45, 48-47 and 48-47 after five rounds. Quigley's second fight was against Australian, Troy Trevor O'Meley of Bankok Elephants. He won via second-round TKO, having led 10-8, 10-7, 10-8 at the end of the first.

2012 | Multi-Nations Tournament

In May 2012, Quigley competed at the 'Algirdas Socikas' Multi-Nations tournament in Kaunas, Lithuania. He overcame Estonian fighter Artjom Fjodorov, 16-6, and Lithuanian fighter Mantas Balciauskas, 11-3, before taking gold against Denmark's Matouk Belai with another dominant 18-5 win in the final.

2012 | European Under-23 Championships

Quigley won his next gold at the 2012 European U23 Championships, in Kaliningrad, Russia. He met Germany's Dennis Radovan in the final, winning by a 17-11 decision at Kaliningrad’s Sports Palace. Quigley defeated Russian southpaw Maksim Timofeev and Moldova's Victor Carapchevschii in the previous rounds.

2013 | Grand Prix Tournament

In March 2013, Quigley took gold at the Ústí nad Labem Grand Prix in the Czech Republic. He beat Czech native Vit Kral by a score of 20-6 in his first fight, before defeating Chinese fighter Zhou Yunfei 14-7. In the final, he met Serbia's Aleksandar Drenovak for another 14-6 victory.

2013 | European Amateur Championships

In June, he won gold again in the European Amateur Boxing Championships in Minsk. Quigley beat world number one Evhen Khytrov, before defeating Bogdan Juratoni in the middleweight final. The Romanian had previously been a bronze medalist in the tournament.

2013 | World Amateur Championships

Quigley's final amateur medal came in October, when he claimed silver at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Almaty. In the semi-finals, Quigley took all three rounds in a victory over Russian boxer Artem Chebotarev. In the other semi-final, Englishman Anthony Fowler was forced to give his opponent a walkover after suffering a hand injury in the lead up to the fight. As a result, Quigley met the much fresher Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in the following day's final. The local Kazakh fighter took gold with a narrow win, in what was Quigley's first loss in an 18-month run of 33 fights.

Professional career

In April 2014, it was announced that Quigley was turning professional and had signed a promotional contract with Golden Boy Promotions in Los Angeles. After signing, Golden Boy founder and president, Oscar De La Hoya said "Jason Quigley is part of the next generation of European boxers who are about to make their mark on the international stage, and we believe he has the skill and determination to go very far in the future". He went on to say "It also doesn’t hurt that he has the great nation of Ireland behind him, and I know they will support him wherever he goes."

Quigley made his professional debut on July 12, 2014, against Howard Reece at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The fight featured on the undercard of Canelo vs Lara, and Quigley won the middleweight bout via TKO, just 82 seconds into the first round. “I’m absolutely buzzing”, Quigley said afterwards. “I’m delighted to be on a show like this and to win is unbelievable”.

Quigley's second professional win came against Mexican fighter Fernando Najera, with Najera's corner ending it in the third round. After the fight Oscar De La Hoya was once again full of praise for Quigley, insisting he will definitely be a world champion in the coming years. "Jason looked amazing in his fight against Najera, and we’re very pleased with his progress", De La Hoya said. "You can tell immediately that he’s someone who knows the game, and his amateur background is serving him well as a professional. We will keep him busy and move him the right way, and I have no doubt that he will be a world champion one day." He continued saying "He’s a good kid, he’s hungry, he’s a hard worker. What really stands out is his ability to want to be a great boxer inside the ring. If you can fight, if you can demonstrate to the fans that you want to put on a great show and fight to the last second of the last round then you are the whole package – Jason is the whole package."

On October 30, 2014, Quigley continued his unbeaten start to professional boxing. Fighting in Plymouth, Massachusetts, an area rich with Irish support, Quigley fought Greg McCoy. The fight did not make it out of the first round however, with a Quigley left hook, right straight combination sending McCoy to the canvas just 2 minutes and 39 seconds into the bout.

Quigley's first fight of 2015 came as part of Golden Boy's "LA Fight Club", this time held at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles. Leading up to the fight, Quigley said “Camp has been amazing. I’m feeling great, I love what I do and I’m ready to put on a show on Friday.” Oscar De La Hoya was also on hand to give his view, saying "Jason Quigley has dominated his opponents in all of his fights since turning pro last year, and his bout at LA Fight Club on March 6 will be no exception." Quigley's opponent was Lanny Dardar in the final fight of the night, and in yet another completely one sided contest, the American received two standing eight counts before an inevitable stoppage just 93 seconds into the first round.

Just two weeks later, Quigley was back in the ring again, this time facing Tolutomi Agunbiade at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. The fight was another dominant performance from Quigley, with the referee stepping in 1 minute and 43 seconds into the second round, when it became obvious that Agunbiade was no longer capable of defending himself.

On April 30, Quigley returned to the Fantasy Springs Resort to face Joshua Snyder. It was another typical display that fans had become accustomed to in Quigley's early career. 44 seconds into round 2, Quigley caught him with a vicious left hook, and followed it up with another big right to confirm the KO over Snyder who was already spiraling towards the canvas.

His next fight was against Mississippi based, Tom Howard. Quigley fought him on July 11, 2015, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The American had won 8 of his 11 professional fights, and had never been KO'd in his career. Despite this, Quigley picked up where he had left off against Joshua Snyder, outclassing his opponent from the first bell. Howard had to pick himself off the canvas twice during the fight, before the referee eventually stepped in and put an end to his punishment in just the second round.

As he returned to the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino for the third time, Quigley fought Michael Faulk, his first southpaw opponent in pro boxing. In a night where The Ring TV commentators dubbed him "El Animal", Quigley continued his perfect record, scoring another emphatic second-round knockout. After a less eventful opening round in which Quigley used his jab and straight right to good effect, Faulk was sent to the canvas three times in the second. Quigley worked the head and body beautifully in the final knockdown, and left Faulk's corner with no choice but to throw the towel in.

Quigley was taken the distance for the first time in his pro career, when he faced Marchristopher Adkins at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The American, unbeaten since his first professional bout, was on a six fight win streak in which he became the first and only fighter to defeat Shane Mosley Jr. Quigley took the four-rounder via Unanimous Decision.

In February 2016, Golden Boy V.P. Eric Perez confirmed that Quigley would be returning to the ring in late March on another card at Fantasy Springs. Perez stated "he'll fight there and then after that we'll bring him back, possibly on the Canelo card." Canelo is booked to defend his titles against England's Amir Khan, at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

On March 26, Quigley took on Freddy Lopez, who stepped in as a late replacement for Dante Moore. The fight was another quick finish for Quigley, with him targeting the body from the bell and scoring a knockdown in the first minute. Lopez stood back to his feet only for Quigley to continue the onslaught to his body. It wasn't long before Lopez was down again, but this time the Mexican stayed down, giving Quigley another first-round knockout. The victory brought Quigley's record to 10 wins, 9 knockouts, 0 losses.

2016 | Quigley vs. De la Rosa

On May 7, in just his 11th pro fight, Quigley took a major step up in class on the undercard of Saúl Álvarez vs. Amir Khan. Quigley faced the then 23-3 James de la Rosa of Mexico, who came in with two camps worth of preparation, having previously been scheduled to face David Lemieux in March. With Lemieux missing the contracted weight, their fight was scrapped and de la Rosa was instead booked to face Quigley in the Irishman's first 10-round fight. Despite Quigley previously going no further than 4 rounds, he passed his test with flying colors, using quick footwork, precise power punching, and disciplined boxing to hurt and outbox De la Rosa for a dominant and one-sided Unanimous Decision victory. All three judges scored the fight 100-90, with all 10 rounds going to Quigley.

2016 | Quigley vs. Melendez

On December 17, 2016, Quigley fought on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins last fight against Joe Smith Jr.. Quigley faced hard-punching Puerto Rican Jorge Melendez (30-7, 28 KO's). Melendez came out fast but was never in the fight. Falling prey early to powerful counters by Quigley, he was dropped 3 times in the first round and stopped after his corner threw in the towel.

2017 | Quigley vs. Tapia

On March 23, Golden Boy had its first televised card on ESPN following their multi-year deal with the network. The main event featured Quigley taking on the tough and experienced Glen Tapia of New Jersey in what was Quigley's first time ever headlining a nationally televised boxing card. Quigley rocked Tapia badly with a right hand to the chin in the first round, and again with a right hand to the body in the second, but at some point in the second round, Quigley broke his right hand on a shot to the top of Tapia's head, which resulted in a torn tendon. From this point forward, Quigley could not be as effective with his right hand punches, and it became a fight of attrition. Quigley went back to boxing on the back foot and his superior technical skills earned him a wide Unanimous Decision victory over 10 rounds with scores of 98-92, 99-91, and 100-90 all in favor of Quigley.