On Thursday, March 23, 2017, Jason Quigley (13-0, 10 KOs) faced the toughest test of his career in a unanimous decision victory against Glen Tapia (23-4, 15 KOs) for the vacant NABF middleweight title at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
The scheduled 10-round fight headlined the debut broadcast of Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN.
Quigley, a 25-year-old native of Ireland, is an undefeated prospect who has been tested well in his young career, though tonight it was against the biggest test thus far.
Tapia, 27, of New Jersey, was a former contender at Super Welterweight before being stopped by James Kirkland in December of 2013.
Since then, he has lost to Michel Soro, David Lemieux and now Quigley.
In the opening round, noticing that Tapia is susceptible to right hands, Quigley began to throw the one-two. However, Tapia defended from a high-guard position, which Quigley partly broke through with his left hand before landing a hard right hand.
The punch wobbled Tapia and put him on the defensive for the next few rounds.
However, by the middle part of the right, two things happened. First, Quigley tired himself out with the early onslaught, so he spent the second part of the fight flailing with punches and breathing out of his mouth.
Secondly, Tapia began to recover, so he was able to land harder and more consistently on Quigley.
However, Quigley’s skill and strength were enough to keep Tapia off him for the rest of the fight.
“I’m taking this little bambino home with me, to my people in Donegal and celebrate with my loved ones,” said Quigley.
“Then when I come back, I’m going to celebrate with my team. Everyone here has been on my team since my performance under the Canelo-Lara card, and this is a stepping stone to many more belts that are coming my way,” said Quigley, who is on his way to becoming a contender.
“I felt slow and sluggish this fight,” said Tapia. “I feel like I didn’t even get to do to him what I trained in camp for. I was able to put pressure on him and hurt him a couple of times. This was not my best performance.”
After several knockout losses, this might have been the last time we see Tapia in the ring.
Jason Quigley teeing off on Glen Tapia #Boxing #GBPonESPN pic.twitter.com/OJkeWdxQSS
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) March 24, 2017
Photos by Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions
