Donegal's Jason Quigley has been linked with a fight with one of the biggest names in boxing in recent days.
Quigley, who is represented by Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, was listed as a 'finalist' to take on Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, BoxRec's current best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, in his next fight. Canelo is the most famous fighter in the Golden Boy stable.
Canelo's last fight was last November, when he beat Sergey Kovalev to move to 53-1-2 in his career. Canelo's hope was to fight again during the weekend of Mexican independence, which is celebrated each year in September. The restrictions around covid-19 mean that the fight will likely take place without fans.
In an interview with ESPN last Saturday, Golden Boy president Eric Gomez namechecked Quigley and fellow Golden Boy boxer Tureano Johnson (who beat Quigley a year ago) along with Britons Callum Smith and John Ryder as possible opponents for the red-headed Mexican middleweight.
It would seem the momentum is behind Ryder to get the call. Smith beat Ryder back in November but the feeling among fight fans was that Ryder deserved to win. Boxing legend Bernard Hopkins told Yahoo's Kevin Iole last night said Ryder is in pole position to get the fight. However Iole noted that Quigley is also a 'finalist'.
Just did a great interview with Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins. He tells me @Canelo is likely to fight John Ryder in September.
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) July 15, 2020
So John Ryder isn’t the only finalist for @Canelo. @jay_quigley is in the running, as well, per sauces
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) July 15, 2020
Sky Sports Boxing believe 'there is a very good chance of Canelo fighting a Brit' - which would obviously rule out the Laghey man. However, the fact that he shares a promoter with Canelo surely will stand to him.
Canelo also signed a massive $365m deal with DAZN last year. DAZN have their UK and Ireland sites in beta, and you would presume they'd like the fight to help them sell more subscriptions in new markets.
A shot at Canelo would be a massive step up in opponent for Quigley. It would also be the tastiest ginger v ginger boxing match we can recall. As it stands, it might be a long shot but stranger things have happened in boxing.
