Jason Quigley claimed a milestone victory last night, defeating Gabor Gorbics via unanimous decision in his first fight in Ireland since he first joined the professional ranks nine years ago.
The Donegal native has long been one of the most popular Irish fighters in the sport, but due to the lack of professional shows in this country, he has been unable to compete on home soil since turning pro.
However, that all changed last night as he took on his Hungarian opponent in the super middleweight bout. It was a dominant performance from Quigley, who won all ten round on each of the judge's scorecards.
It was not a smooth buildup to the fight for the 31-year old, who had two different opponents pull out of the bout due to injury. Gorbics only stepped in to fill the void left by Anatoli Hunanyan last week, who himself had been brought in to replace Kim Poulsen.
Despite this, Quigley would keep his composure to comfortably claim his first professional victory since May of 2021. Prior to last night, his last fight came in his WBO World middleweight title loss to the undefeated Demetrius Andrade in November of the same year.
It is fantastic to see the fighter bounce back from that disappointment is such a convincing fashion and he will no doubt to be keen to organise future bouts on Irish soil.
A top amateur boxer before turning pro, Quigley last appearance at this venue came all the way back in 2013.
He has been working alongside trainer Andy Lee in recent times, with the Limerick native sharing a short clip of him training alongside Paddy Donovan in the the buildup to last night's event.
Paddy Donovan and Jason Quigley, ready to fight Saturday night. pic.twitter.com/ou9qEFStoS
— Andy Lee (@AndyLeeBoxing) March 29, 2023
Donovan would impress during his own bout last night, knocking out Luis Da Silva in the first round to move to a pro record of 10-0.
Speaking to Irish-Boxing.com prior to the fight, Quigley explained why Andy Lee has had such a major impact on him since the pair started working together.
Since I've went with Andy, we've always been together training. Through lockdown and everything we were training, I was here in Dublin and we've put in so many hours together in the gym.
It's been great. Everybody knows Andy's boxing IQ, his own experience from boxing. He's a great man to have advising you, talking to you, and training you.
He knows what it's about to get into that ring, to get up off the canvas, to come back from setbacks, to become a champion. He has been there, done it, and lived through it all. To have that man backing you is definitely a positive in your career.
Here's hoping that this is the first of many professional wins for Jason Quigley on Irish soil.
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