‘We fill our lives with so much unnecessary stuff and forget about the simple things’ –
Jason Quigley enjoying chance to recharge for the big fights ahead
EVEN down the phone line it is possible to hear the birds chirping in the back garden of Jason Quigley’s home in Ballybofey, which he shares with his partner April and her daughter Sierra.
The rolling meadows and woodlands are a stone’s throw away. At night they sometimes light a fire pit, sit outside and listen to music.
This is the rural paradise which the Donegal boxer has grown to appreciate during the lockdown.
“For the first time in my life I have a real bit of stability. I’m not going away to a training camp or thinking about whether a fight is on or off. I can sit back, relax at home and still train every day.
“It has shown me how simply we can live. We fill our lives with so much unnecessary stuff and forget about the simple things.”
The floodlight pylons from nearly MacCumhail Park are visible from his home. When he glances at them it reminds him of his ambition to fight there. “It’s on my to-do list.”
Flamboyant
Right now, though, his next fight is most likely to take place in another unusual location – the back garden at Eddie Hearn’s Essex estate.
The flamboyant English promoter is planning a spectacular relaunch of professional boxing in the UK by staging four successive Saturday night shows in late summer on his 15-acre estate.
Quigley was due to fight British middleweight Jack Cullen on the undercard of Katie Taylor’s world title defence in Manchester against Amanda Serrano on May 2. He is optimistic that the fight will be slotted into the new promotion.
Meanwhile, he is training in isolation. “We’ve got into a routine. After breakfast Sierra will do her home schooling and I go training. I have a garage in the middle of nowhere with some equipment in it.
“I whale away at the punch bag every second day and on the other days I do runs or circuits. In the afternoons we all head up to the nearby Drumboe Woods for a walk.”
He has stayed in regular contact with his coach Andy Lee and is hopeful that they can link up again by the end of June in Dublin.
Though the working relationship between the former world middleweight champion and the wannabe belt-holder is still in its infancy, it has given Quigley’s career, which was drifting after he suffered his first defeat last July, a fresh impetus.
“Andy and I clicked straight away. The chemistry was just there from the start. We are nearly in the same age bracket which makes a massive difference as we share a lot of interests. Boxing-wise, our careers are quite similar so we can relate to that.”
Lee also suffered a shattering defeat when he looked on course to land a world title fight in 2008. But he rebuilt his career and was rewarded nine years later when he landed the WBO world middleweight belt with an unforgettable knockout win over Matt Korobov.
Quigley’s career was on a perfect trajectory until he badly damaged his right hand in a fight in early 2017 which sidelined him for 12 months. In his fourth fight back he suffered his first loss against Tureano Johnson which also precipitated a break-up with his Sheffield-based trainer Dominic Ingle.
“Athletes don’t plan for defeats. After a loss you do think about the future and whether you want to continue. Once those questions don’t last too long in your head, you’re able to lift yourself and continue.”
A non-drinker, Quigley has been careful about how he spends the money he has earned from boxing. “I’m (a) smart fella and I don’t live a luxurious life. I always saved for the rainy day though I never thought it would turn out to be a pandemic.”
Living in a county where 13 per cent of the work force is employed in the tourism industry, he’s acutely aware that Donegal faces tough times.
“I think we’re in a kind of honeymoon period and when things get back to normal people will face a difficult time economically.”
He knows too how sport can be the perfect antidote in troubled times. And then he imagines what the atmosphere would be for a ringwalk on a balmy summer’s night in MacCumhail Park with 20,000 packed into the ground. And he hits the punch bag harder.