Ireland’s Jason Quigley 19-1 (14) insists he is more than ready to wrest the WBO middleweight belt from reigning champion Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade 30-0 (18) at the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday night.
The 30-year-old from Ballybofey is hoping a large contingent of his countrymen will attend the fight, saying their cheers will get him through any rough spots in the bout.
“There’s nothing like the Irish fans and I cannot really imagine what it’s going to be like come fight night,” Quigley said.
“We all know how loud and proud they are and that’s giving me more excitement, and these are the types of things as well that can get fighters through a difficult period of a fight.
“When you are in the ring and you are hurt, you go down, something is not going to plan – when you hear the crowd roaring you on that can give you the extra lift and percentage to get you over the line.”
Quigley was an accomplished amateur, winning silver at the World Amateur Championships in 2013. He appeared on track to represent Ireland at the 2016 Rio Olympics but opted to turn professional instead.
Quigley has based himself in the United States since the start of his career and reeled off 16 straight wins before running into Tureano Johnson at Fantasy Springs in Indio, California in July 2019. Quigley could not continue after round nine and the bout was stopped one frame short of the scheduled distance.
Since his lone loss Quigley has strung together three wins, the most recent being his 10-round majority decision victory over Shane Mosley Jr on the Devin Haney vs Jorge Linares undercard at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas in May.
Southpaw Andrade, 33, from Providence, Rhode Island, represents a significant step up in class for Quigley, who insists it is not a bridge to far.
“In the build-up to the fight it’s about controlling emotions, the nervous energy, you have the natural excitement inside of course, but I have a job to do on November 19, to get in there and take care of business,” he said.
“That’s been the mindset for me, I have prepared as hard for this fight as any other that I’ve had.”
Andrade vs Quigley is the main event on a stacked card which features four world title fights and will be broadcast on DAZN.
WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion Murdojon Akhamdaliev 9-0 (7) will defend his unified championship against Jose Velasquez 29-6-2 (19).
WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez 18-1 (14) puts his belt on the line for the fourth time against McWilliams Arroyo 21-4 (16).
Meanwhile in female action WBA junior welterweight champion Kali ‘KO Mequinonoag’ Reis 18-7-1 (5) will face Jessica ‘The Cobra’ Camara 8-2 with the vacant WBO belt also on the line.