Jason Quigley

Jason Robert Quigley (born 19 May 1991) is an Irish professional boxer who challenged for the WBO middleweight title in November 2021.

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.

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.

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.

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 Bangkok Elephants.

He won via second-round TKO, having led 10-8, 10-7, 10-8 at the end of the first.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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 12 July 2014 as a middleweight, 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 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 Fernando Najera, with Najera's corner ending it in the third round.

On 30 October 2014, Quigley continued his unbeaten start to professional boxing.

Fighting in Plymouth, Massachusetts, an area rich with Irish support, Quigley fought Greg McCoy.

His place in the Ireland team had seemed secured for the 2016 Summer Olympics, however he decided to turn professional instead.

At regional level he held the WBC-NABF middleweight title from 2017 to 2019 and the WBO-NABO middleweight title from May to November 2021.

Quigley had an extremely promising amateur career, which saw him rise to number one in both the AIBA European and World amateur rankings.