Jason Quigley ready for a big bite in the Big Apple

It was 2019 and Andy Lee had just agreed to work with Jason Quigley.

The pair spoke after Quigley lost to Tureano Johnson at Fantasy Springs, relinquishing the NABF middleweight title, and found himself at a crossroads.

Lee was coaching the exciting Paddy Donovan. Still is. Donovan, now 11-0, is in New York City this week as his stable-mate Quigley goes in search of finding a way back to the big time again.

Quigley squares off to the brash and bold Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night. The main arena at Madison Square Garden hosts their headline act with Berlanga's NABO super-middleweight title on the line.

Watch: 'I'll make this my city', Jason Quigley tells Edgar Berlanga

Jason Quigley is back in the ring on Saturday night and, with the NABO super-middleweight belt up for grabs, intends to silence Edgar Berlanga

It is just under four years since Quigley and Lee began their partnership.

A few weeks later, Lee sat down with Kevin Byrne, the Irish Sun boxing writer who also hosts The Rocky Road podcast.

Lee spoke of how he carried himself and the importance of staying true to his own values.

“I didn’t run opponents down so I probably never got the attention that I could’ve got,” Lee, who won the WBO world middleweight title in 2014, said at the time.

“When I speak about carrying myself in a certain way, that’s benefited me in retirement. It comes back and it repays you.

“It probably didn’t help me in my career. Didn’t get big fights, wasn’t that attractive, and it’s because I didn’t talk smack.

“I’ve always carried myself in a certain manner. There were times where my friends said, ‘call him out’ or do this or that, but that just didn’t feel right."

It has become easy to see how Quigley relates to Lee so much outside of the ring as well as inside the ropes.

They are peas in a pod and so much of their respective careers carries a common theme.

The border between confidence and cockiness is a thin line.

Quigley and Berlanga came face-to-face for the first time in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

“I'm going to beat the shit out of him,” Berlanga blasted. “I'm going to smack him with the glove before I even punch him.”

Berlanga, who is 20-0 with 16KOs, fights for the first time under the Matchroom Boxing banner on Saturday night having been signed by Eddie Hearn. Berlanga’s last bout saw a unanimous decision win over Alexis Angula, a fight overshadowed by a subsequent six-month ban for Berlanga for an attempted bite in the seventh round.

Styled as the 'Chosen One', Berlanga's public utterances hold little in the way of class as far as Quigley is concerned. Berlanga had a back-and-forth recently with Billy Joe Saunders on Instagram and is eyeing up a bout with boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez.

“From what I see, he’s all about his looks, the high profile, and talking and all this kind of stuff,” Quigley said.

“To me now, as a 32-year-old professional, all that shows in insecurities. I have never seen a man get as much hate online at Berlanga and I know it gets to him.

“Look, it is what it is, if he wants to be thinking about Canelo and slobbering to Billy Joe Saunders, that’s fine. That’s taking his eye off the ball even more so. It’s taken his focus off this fight which is going to play into my hands.”

Quigley has been in this position before. Just over two years ago, with Covid restrictions still in place, he went to Las Vegas and defeated Shane Mosley Jr in a bout touted as a possible Fight of the Year contender in its aftermath.

That victory teed up a shot at Demetrius Andrade’s world title. In November 2021, Andrade stopped Quigley with a vicious shot in Manchester, New Hampshire. It took almost a year-and-a-half before Quigley stepped onto the canvas again for a victory over durable journeyman Gabor Gorbics earlier this year.

The Ballybofey man has since wed long-time partner April McManus. The contentment is obvious now for the former European gold and World silver medallist.

In the time between losing to Andrade and his latest assault at returning to the top table, Quigley has – even as he entered his 30s - grown up a little more.

He said: “I’m still the same person, I’ve just had a few different experiences, a bit of a maturing and a bit of learning over the last year or two. That’s stuff you can’t buy, or hand down to somebody.

“I’m still the same person, I have learned a few things, I’ve matured a bit better through the experiences I’ve been through.

“That has put me into a much more confident role in myself, and I’ve always been confident in myself.”

Quigley expects Berlanga to emerge like a wrecking ball on Saturday night. The New Yorker, who has Purrto Rican heritage, has the tag of the favourite to wear, but there have been lingering doubts after his last four outings all went the distance.

Quigley, who would likely get a shot at a world belt were he to have his hand raised on Saturday night, said: “For this to be a real success and a real win for Berlanga and get a chance at Canelo, he has to blow me out. I can expect to come out with a fast start and try to put the pressure on early doors. Once that doesn’t work for him, he will get frustrated and start panicking a little bit.”

It is ten years now since Quigley, just four months after winning the Irish Elite middleweight title, went to Minsk for the 2013 European Championships.

Ievgen Khytrov from Ukraine was the reigning World champion at the time. Quigley defeated Khytrov and the final victory over Romania's Bogdan Juratoni catapulted the Finn Valley man into a new orbit.

Few outside of Ireland were truly aware of him when he landed in Belarus, but by the time he jetted out of Minsk he was firmly earmarked as one to watch.

A medal machine as an amateur in the Irish vest, Quigley has had some frustrating roadblocks in his professional career, but the confidence is there.

“I’ve always been confident in myself and thought I’m a very confident person,” he said.

“I’ve been very confident throughout my career, but there is different aspects of being confident, you’re always confident in your ability and what you can do, there are things you pick up along the way that you make you actually more confident, that maybe you weren’t aware of before.

“Now I am so much aware, of things I’ve been through, learning and growing. I’m extremely confident, I’ve been confident in every fight I have went into my own career. There is just more added on for this one.

“I’ve prepared myself better than ever this time around. I've had a great training camp and a great lead up to this fight.”

And, like Lee before him, not even a hint of smack talk in his air.