Irish middleweight Jason Quigley came through a cut head scare in the first round of his opening fight at the World Boxing Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan to defeat Beijing bronze medallist Vijender Singh. It's the 22-year-old's first venture into world level competition.
The experienced Indian, a former Asian champion, cut Quigley in a head clash forcing the fight to be stopped for a short time and the Donegal boxer to be examined by the ringside doctor.
“After I felt the doctor hitting the side of the head I knew I was grand because I knew that it wasn’t going to impair my vision or give any reason for the referee to stop it.”
But Quigley, who earned the European title earlier this year, wasn’t distracted from the early episode and when passed fit to continue went on to take the bout on a split decision. Vijender was warned in the final round for a low blow that put Quigley down.
“Brilliant,” said Quigley immediately after the bout. “I knew getting in there today that I was in with a Beijing Olympian. “I knew that I was up against it. He had a win under his belt against the Swedish lad (Hampus Henriksson). I got in there, got the rust off myself.
“As everybody knows, I’m an active boxer and I never take anyone for granted. I went in and gave it a rattle. Every fight is a final.”
The win sends Quigley into a last 16, where he faces Scotland’s Aston Brown on Monday.
In the super heavyweight division Ireland's Con Sheehan went out of the tournament to Cuba's Yohandi Ortega. While the Irishman lost to a unanimous decision, he was in the bout throughout and for large tracts, the Cuban relied on short burst of aggression, where he scored off Sheehan.
“I thought it was even, nothing in it. I thought it could have gone either way,” said a disappointed Sheehan. “The two of us had a go of it in the final round. I think I was getting caught. I knew was getting caught but I said to myself keep working. Keep working. I tried my best. I tried to box clever. But I left my best effort in there.”
Michael Conlan ended off what coach Billy Walsh can consider a successful day in Almaty. The Belfast bantamweight won a unanimous decision over Hungary’s Krisztian Nagy 28-29, 27-30, 27-30.
Conlan, who just recently stepped up to the 56 kg class was never out of control against an aggressive come forward opponent. Switching from orthodox to southpaw, Conlan rolled his opponent’s shots and picked his punches well, his jab and clean rights earning the first round. Nagy faced more of the same in the second and third rounds, his body also coming in for stinging punishment.
In the third round the Hungarian was visibly tiring but by then Conlan had his first bout wrapped up. Impressive and uncut, he moves a step closer to the medals.
“I’d been practising on the wee dip to the left and throwing that left to the body,” said Conlan afterwards. “And I was hurting him when I hit him to the body. Maybe I should have done it a bit more but I will as I continue my improvement for the next fight.”
