‘I won’t lie; the doubts were in my head’ – Quigley overcomes to get back on world title track

Jason Quigley admits his head was full of doubts ahead of his return to winning ways on Thursday night.

The Donegal talent bounced back from his first career defeat in impressive and aggressive fashion on a Hangar hosted Golden Boy promoted card.

Quigley, fighting now under the tutelage of former middleweight champ Andy Lee, dominated Abraham Codero.

In his return after a first career defeat, suffered at the gloves of Tureano Johnson in July, look assured and confident.

However, the 28-year-old admits he was nervous and even worried pre the return to form.

“I won’t lie: Walking into the ring, I was thinking: ‘I don’t want that shit to happen again’. The doubts were in the head. I wanted to get that behind me and get the victory,” Quigley revealed.

Get the job done he did -and it seems he took on board his new coach’s advice to leave the nice guy back in the changing rooms.

“I’ve been working on my ruthlessness and getting the job done. It’s onto the next one now. I think I hit him in the second round. I saw him wobble a little, but he wasn’t hurt. I knew I couldn’t jump in.

“I hit him in the third round and I knew that he was gone. I saw his eyes dazing. I knew I had to put on the pressure. I probably put it on too much. I got excited. I just wanted to get him out of there. I couldn’t have done it slicker and tidier, but I got the job done.”

Quigley didn’t feel it was quite a vintage display, but he is content with aspects of his performance and delighted to be back to winning ways.

“I’m happy to get the comeback win. I was happy with my patience in there. He was tricky. He didn’t commit too much with any shots. He was flicking the shots. It feels good,” he added before stressing he will ‘treasure’ Christmas.

“I love Christmas and I can’t wait to get back home now. Christmas is a special time of year and I treasure it.”

Now back on track the Golden Boy fighter is keen to progress toward big fights.

He claims he could compete at either middle or super middle and believes he could be just two good wins away from a world title challenge at either.

“I’m excited for what’s ahead. I’ve got a training camp out in LA in January. I felt good at that weight. I could fight now at 168lbs or 160lbs. There’ll be a belt on the line in the next couple of fights for me – then it’s onto a world title.”