JASON QUIGLEY DOESN’T have the element of surprise in his corner any more.
This time last year the man from Stranorlar, just outside Ballybofey in Donegal, was still pigeon-holed as one to watch, an unknown to all except those who keep a close eye on the underage talent bubbling through in Irish boxing.
Now everybody knows his name. The simple things, like nipping down to the shop to buy a carton of milk, take half an hour rather than five minutes. Everybody wants to chat.
The kids in the town know him, look up to him, and some dream of eventually being him: a European champion at the age of 22 with the promise of even greater success to follow if he can keep up his meteoric rise.
“I’ve definitely had a big change in my life,” he says.
The only problem is, now his opponents know his name too. Quigley was an unseeded outsider when he came from nowhere to win the European Championships in Minsk in June, beating three of the world’s top five on his way to an unforgettable gold.
Now he’s up alongside them, ranked seventh in the world and a marked man when he begins his campaign at the World Championships later today.
It’s a tough start against Vijender Singh, the Indian who won bronze at the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 Worlds in Milan. Singh has been suffering from a viral infection since arriving in Almaty but the 27-year-old, ranked 14th in the world, is still a threat.
From his own experience, Quigley knows better than to underestimate any opponent.
“I went into the European Championships as an unseeded boxer and I’m sure plenty of different people didn’t really recognise me or know of me.
INPHO/Cathal Noonan
“I stated my name quite clearly at the European Championships so going into these World Championships now, a lot of people are going to know me. A lot of people are going to be gunning for me, the likes of the world champion and the world number one that I beat.
“He’s obviously going to want his revenge but I can’t go to these World Championships thinking ‘the world champion is here, the world number one is here, I’m going to get him.’
There could be a lad who is ranked 50th in the world and if I go in and overlook him and have a dip in my performance, obviously he’s going to beat me. Any lad who is a national champion and entered in the World Championships is a top quality boxer.
A year ago this all seemed like a distant dream for Quigley. As a youngster he was sports-mad, skipping from football pitches to GAA training and back into handball courts before he dedicated himself to boxing and the sacrifice that it entails.
He won European youth gold in 2009 but at domestic level, he was made to wait — and work — for his success.
Beaten by Darren O’Neill in the 2010 and 2011 Elite Senior finals, Quigley dropped down to welterweight for 2012 and found himself up against equally formidable opposition in Willie McLaughlin.
When the breakthrough finally came in 2013, he didn’t need to be reminded that a senior title is there to be savoured.
“Only for that disappointment and those defeats I don’t think I’d be where I am today.
Those defeats really hit home and deep down inside me, there’s a lot of disappointment there, there’s a lot of failure there.
“I’m not a guy who likes to come in second or third place. It all built up and it worked to a great advantage for me because it gave me the hunger and the strength to go on.
INPHO/James Crombie
“To become an Irish senior champion was an aim of mine massively and getting beaten in it makes it even more because once you can’t have something you want it even more. That was exactly what happened with the Irish seniors.
“I was coming up here three years in a row and going home beaten. It’s not a nice feeling.
“The work that goes into [boxing] is unbelievable. I’ve dedicated my life to it from a young age.
It’s my life, it’s what I do and I’ve given up everything to do this sport. To not achieve at it, it’s a real disappointment for me but I know it’s what I want to do and I know it’s what I’m put on this planet to do, to box.
“To come and achieve then is even better.
“It was one of the best feelings waking up the next morning with a few aches and pains but with the Irish senior belt beside me.
“You couldn’t be lying beside anything better,” he laughs.
