Jason Quigley cools talk of Conrad Cummings clash

Jason Quigley has dismissed talk of a fight with Irish rival Conrad Cummings, noting how such a match-up makes “no sense” at the present moment.

The Ulster middleweights have been building on either side of the Atlantic, with Coalisland’s Cummings [11(5)-1(0)-1] based with Cyclone Promotions in London while Donegal man Quigley [13(10)-0] has relocated to Los Angeles and promotional behemoth Golden Boy.

A fight between the pair has been mooted for a long time, with some viewing it as akin to the early career meeting between James DeGale and George Groves, now a gym mate of Cummings. The English super middleweights met for the British and Commonwealth titles back in 2011, with Groves narrowly prevailing but both later going on to claim world honours.

Quigley however would prefer the fight with his countryman to build.

In their most recent bouts both Irishmen claimed rankings titles, with the Ballybofey man overcoming a severe hand injury to outpoint Glen Tapia to claim the NABF belt and a WBC rankings, and Cummings entering the WBO ladder with a highlight reel KO of Gogo Knezevic that saw him claim the WBO European title.

Both are still only 13 fights into their respective careers and Quigley suggests that a world title would need to be on the line for him to face ‘Mr Dynamite.’ Indeed the Manny Robles-trained fighter pointed out that, at present, he is a level above Cummings who has been held to a draw by Alfredo Meli and beaten, albeit extremely controversially, by Ronny Mittag.

In his latest column for Sky Sports, ‘El Animal’ described how “I’m on my path and Conrad Cummings is on his own. He’s had a few hurdles already in his career and to be honest, I’ve reached a level which I know I can get to.”

“Does Conrad think he can get there? He probably does, but I don’t know. It makes no sense fighting now, there is nothing on the line.”

“But I will easily fight Conrad, if he goes on to win a title.”

Quigley is currently recovering from his aforementioned hand injury, with a Winter return expected. Conrad Cummings, on the other hand, is in line to appear on one of the big Cyclone undercards in the coming weeks – either Carl Frampton’s Belfast homecoming on July 29th or Josh Taylor v Ohara Davies on July 8th.

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LISTEN: Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill speak to Luke Keeler and Paddy Barnes on Episode 6 of The Irish Boxing Show: