Jason Quigley created Irish boxing history in Kazakhstan today. The Donegal middleweight produced an excellent display of counter-punching to claim a semi-final win over Russia’s Artem Chebotarev on a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28,30-27) to become the first Irish male boxer to make it through to an AIBA World Elite final.
Quigley found the target with most of the meaningful shots in the opening round to claim the first frame on two of the judges’ cards. The current European champion was also on top in the opening exchanges of the second frame, but got clipped after he was caught off balance coming out of a clinch and took a standing count. Chebotarev poured forward to press home his advantage following that incident, but Quigley responded magnificently with a flurry of shots to leave the scoring 20-18,20-18,19-19 in his favour at the end of the second.
It was a tight third, but again, all the eye-catching punches came from the Donegal man, who rattled the Russian with three unanswered rights and lefts going down the final stretch on his way to an historic win for Irish boxing.
Next up for Quigley is Kazakhstan’s Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in Saturday’s final. The Kazakh received a walkover over England’s Anthony Fowler, who Quigley has beaten in the past, after the Liverpudian withdrew with an injury to his right hand.
Quigley is now guaranteed to be taking home at least a silver medal from the 17th AIBA World Elite Championships, a first for Irish boxing.
