Can you tell that Jason Quigley had just qualified for tomorrow’s World Boxing Championships final when this shot was taken? Just about…
The Donegal native was victorious in his middleweight semi-final bout with Russia’s Artem Chebotarev in Kazakhstan this morning and sealed his passage to tomorrow’s final, where he will take on Kazakh fighter Zhanibek Alimkhanuly on home turf.
Although Quigley has already ensured that he will become the first Irish male fighter to win a gold or a silver medal at World Championships level tomorrow, he’ll be going all out for ultimate glory against Alimkhanuly, who didn’t have to contest his semi-final as Britain’s Anthony Fowler was forced to withdraw with a hand injury.
Despite facing a standing count in the second round (when his feet appeared to become entangled) Quigley eventually won out on a scoreline of 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 although, as the picture below from Inpho's Cathal Noonan illustrates, he had to work bloody hard for it.
Quigley will have the support of a nation when he contests the final tomorrow morning (the fight will be live on RTE One) and in the meantime, attention will turn to Joe Ward as the Westmeath man aims to emulate Quigley and reach the light-heavyweight final when he takes on Julio De La Cruz-Peraza of Cuba shortly before 3pm this afternoon.
Keep up the good work lads.
Main pic via Inpho/Cathal Noonan
