By Frank Craig
Jason Quigley aims to bounce back in style tonight when he tangles with Abraham Crodero in California.
The Donegal middleweight had his world title dreams derailed back in July when he suffered his first professional loss to the hard hitting Tureano Johnston.
Quigley – now training under former WBO World middleweight champion Andy Lee in Dublin – tells the Donegal News he is determined to end the year on a high.
“I’m feeling very good,” he said. “I’m feeling very positive. The mindset and attitude is great. I can’t wait to get into the ring now at the weekend to do some damage.
“I want to put in a good performance and move into 2020 with a world title shot in sight.”
The Ballybofey man knows the west coast of America well. He previously trained out of Los Angeles before relocating to Sheffield in 2017.
But those ties to the Steel City and previous trainer Dominic Ingle have since been cut. A new direction has been undertaken. But Quigley insists the changes to his approach inside the ring won’t be wholesale.
“I’m 28 years of age now. I’ve boxed all my life. You can’t go changing things too dramatically. It’s not like I felt I needed to change too much any ways. But Andy is just fine tuning a lot of things in terms of technique and even mindset.
“I’m excited now to get into the ring and showcase some of those things. It’s just a matter of putting it all together now. Things have been going really well in the gym. And it’s all about fight night from here on in.”
Lee and Quigley had a very good relationship prior to the Limerick man coming on board as trainer. He himself suffered a similar setback to Quigley when Brian Vera robbed him of his 15-0 record back in 2008 by way of TKO.
Lee would eventually go onto lift a world title in 2014 when he defeated Matvey Korobov with a stunning late flurry at the end of the sixth round.
Quigley is excited about the link up and feels it has the potential to push him back into that middleweight title picture.
“It’s an interesting relationship,” he added. “Andy is only a few years older than me. He’s still a young man. We have a great bond and a very good relationship. There is a good chemistry.
“We get each other and we’re having fun. But the most important thing is we’re working really hard. I think that’s the perfect blend. He doesn’t have to shout at me to keep going. He brings a very calm and measured aspect to it all.
“He’s calculated. I’m the type of person that pushes myself really hard any ways. There is a good balance there and I’m really happy with where we’re at and where we’re heading.
“It’s been a breath of fresh air. It’s helped every aspect of life. The move with Andy, the relationship. Closer to home, I’m definitely more happier.
“It just feels right. I can go up and down the road in a matter of hours with little or no fuss. It’s a more comfortable balance.”
Quigley’s previous 15-0 record is now blemished. But he says he’s made peace with that summer shock loss to Johnston. It stung at the time but he explains that he moved on pretty quickly.
“It’s funny. I didn’t sit about and feel sorry for myself for too long. To be honest, I never thought defeat would affect me the way it did when it eventually came around.
“If anything, it’s had a positive impact. I thought that I would be completely down, end of the world sort of stuff. For a few days of course it hurt like that. I was hurt inside more than anything.
“But once that lifted, and this will sound funny; you often hear people say ‘I gave it my best and that’s all I could have done’. For me, I came away from that fight with no real attachment left with the defeat.
“I know that wasn’t me that night – it wasn’t the best I can be in there that night. Take nothing away from Johnston. He performed well on the night and deserved the win. I wish him all the best and I hope he goes on to do great things.
“But that just wasn’t me on the night. I’m even more determined to push on, forget about it and make it right again. If that had been my best in there I would have been thinking, ‘where do I go from here?’
“Listen, it happened. And it’s a weird feeling for me. But I’ve parked it. There is so much more to give and I’m looking forward to getting that whole process rolling next Thursday night.”
The fights will be streamed live DAZN, and on Facebook Watch via the Golden Boy Fight Night Page. Quigley will make his walk around 2am Irish time Friday morning.
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