'Special and enjoyable': Jason Quigley savours winning return to National Stadium

Jason Quigley went back in time to relaunch his career on Saturday night.

The Ballybofey man overcame the durable Gabor Gorvics on points at the National Stadium.

Quigley’s dominance was reflected in a wide 100-90 points win, the 20th victory of his professional career.

The old place shook to its core when the Ballybofey man emerged for his return.

The walk was familiar to Quigley, who had some of his greatest hours between these walls, but it was his first time here as a boxer since May 2013. 

Then, Rachid Hamai from France was beaten in a build-up to the European Elites, where Quigley would win gold during a series of wins that catapulted him to the pro ranks.

Now, Quigley was back to get back to winning ways and the tough Gorbics - a late replacement - ensured that the audience got their money’s worth in rounds.

“It was special and enjoyable,” Quigley said. “It has been a long journey. I've been doing this since I was ten. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs and tonight was one of those ups.

“I had to overcome a lot tonight, not so much in the fight, but in the build-up with the memories from the last fight. I’m very happy with how I controlled myself, kept myself fully focussed.”

Over the last 16 months, Quigley’s followers have waited and wondered about his next move.

He suffered defeat to the destructive Demetrius Andrade when the world middleweight title was up for grabs in November 2021. A broken jaw added to the woe.

The itch to go again began to return and in late 2022 Quigley decided he’d make his return on a familiar old stomping ground: The way to the top would restart where it all began.

Quigley said: “My first time back in a long, long time. It’s not that I was out with injury; I was out because I was off the back of a heavy defeat and there were question marks over what was next.”

Gorbics arrived as a late replacement during the week after a planned sub for the injured Kim Poulsen ran into visa issues. Gorbics was no stranger to Irish opponents having gone eight rounds with Monaghan’s Aaron McKenna in 2021.

Gorbics lost out to Paul Ryan on points last April and was also beaten on the referee’s score by Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan in 2018. 

In 2021, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, a middleweight world champion, out-pointed Gorbics, who also has Anthony Fowler and Liam Williams as former foes.

Quigley gets married to his long-time partner April McManus at the end of April and was conscious of maintaining a clean face against the often-erratic and always-tough Gorbics.

At different junctures, Quigley would’ve smelt blood, but remained controlled.

He said: “It was about getting the rounds in. Early in my career, I went hell for leather. They say you don’t get paid for overtime in boxing and you don’t, but I wish I had paced myself better in my earlier fights.”

A fierce right hand in the third rose the South Circular Road crowd to its feet, but Quigley stayed true to what he’d been working on. Sports Psychologist Shane O’Sullivan has been a recent addition to Team Quigley - and his influence was obvious.

“Boston was unbelievable and maybe I took it in too much. I was looking around at the faces, but this time, in a much smaller venue, I was a lot more in the zone and a lot more focussed. I still took the atmosphere in and felt the noise. I took the energy off the crowd. It was something else.”

Coach Andy Lee, who had guided Quigley’s camp until Friday, was unavailable due to his obligations with DAZN at Anthony Joshua’s fight card in London, but his brother Roger Lee stood in, with Raphoe BC coach Gary McCullagh also working the corner.

In the build up, Quigley had said: “Losses will either make or break you. It won't break me. It'll make me and you'll see the start of this on Saturday.”