BY CHRIS MCNULTY
JASON Quigley will grace the bright lights of the famed MGM Grand in Las Vegas for his professional boxing debut on July 12 next.
Quigley, who turns 23 later this month, is on the undercard for the junior middleweight contest between Canelo Alvarez and Erislandy Lara.
The Finn Valley ABC star was snapped up by Golden Boy Promotions last month. Quigley’s opponent for his eagerly-anticipated first pro bout has yet to be confirmed, but the Ballybofey man will be involved in a middleweight four-rounder.
His father and coach, Conor, will be in his corner and will be liaising closely with Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions’ match-maker, ahead of confirmation of the opponent.
As an amateur, Quigley’s star rocketed last year. Having earlier won Irish and European senior titles, he reached the World Championship final in October, losing out to Zhanibek Alimkhanuly.
But he’d showed enough of his class to attract the big offers from Stateside.
“It was a no-brainer, especially when Golden Boy gave me the offer,” he said.
“I worked hard as an amateur, I put everything into it. I wore the vest proudly and made history by wearing the Irish vest at the World Championships.
“Once I achieved that it was really the professional side of the sport that burned deep down inside of me – it was always a childhood dream to become a professional world champion.”
The headline act on July 12 in Nevada’s famous venue will be the clash of Mexican star Alvarez, the former WBC and WBA super welterweight world champion, and Lara who is the WBA junior middleweight world champion.
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