SOMETHING “will get broken” on Saturday night but it won’t be his 30-fight winning streak, claimed Demetrius ‘BooBoo’ Andrade ahead of his WBO middleweight title defence against Donegal’s Jason Quigley in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Confident Andrade is fighting in his own backyard but Ballybofey’s Quigley says his best will be good enough at the SNHU Arena and he vows to give his trash-talking Rhode Island opponent “one hell of a night”.
“As a young kid you look at this like it’s a dream, something you’ve always dreamt of,” said Quigley.
“That’s all well and good but I am at the stage now where I am good enough and mature enough for the opportunity. It’s not a dream any more, I deserve to be here, I’ve worked my backside off, I’ve had ups and downs
“I have literally fought to be here and this is just another fight, another opponent and a night that I need to be at my best because that will be good enough to become world champion.”
Quigley (19-1) has been stopped once in 20 professional fights. That loss came before he linked up with coach Andy Lee who, like Dubliner Steve Collins, won the WBO middleweight title himself during a career that included a number of sparring sessions with Andrade.
“Demetrius is a great fighter, he’s a two-time two-weight world champion and undefeated as a professional,” he said
“I have never been a person to talk trash, I will be the best I can possibly be and I am going to give him one hell of a night.
“He has a very unique style and the only thing you can really replicate is him being a southpaw, but not every southpaw is going to be able to mirror him as his style is so different. But we’ve had a lot of southpaw sparring and we’ve got the rounds in to be ready for fight night.
“I work hard and I am honest with myself and doing the simple things right: eating right, sleeping right, resting, living a good life, staying in the gym… I’ve created luck for myself and you get what you deserve in life.
“If you put a lot of hard work and effort into something you will get the rewards. There were a lot of pieces missing in the jigsaw and over time I’ve put them together to create the picture that I’ve got now.”
Quigley has prepared well at left no stone unturned but he will be the underdog on Saturday night. However, he says he has already visualised taking the belt which Andrade has held since 2018 when he beat Walter Kautondokwa in Boston on a bill that included James Tennyson’s challenge for the IBF featherweight title.
The defending champion says he is up for the challenge.
“I’m gonna go in and do my thing,” he boasted.
“I look to give everybody a beating, to out-class them. Knocking people out is cool but I want to show my skills and let people see the level I have.
“Jason Quigley said: ‘Viva Ireland! I will give Andrade one hell of a night!’ I am up for the challenge and it’s exciting because I’ll get to show people why I’m one of the best, or the greatest.
“I’ve been training to do a lot of destruction so either his mom’s gonna stop it, his dad’s gonna stop it, the referee’s gonna stop it, or his cornerman is gonna stop it. Somebody is stopping this fight – put your house on it.”
