Jason Quigley believes that boxing newcomer David Weir could enter the Misfits Boxing series.
Ardara native Weir, a late entrant to the sport coming off the back of two wins recently in Dubai, made his home debut on Saturday night as part of the Fight Night at the Valley 2 card in Stranorlar.
Weir, who has almost 300,000 followers on Instagram, came up against Dominic Pajaczerk in a charity exhibition. After the three round welterweight clash, Weir was declared the winner by referee James McCarron.
Now, Quigley believes his man could make inroads on the Misfits route.
Misfits Boxing is a crossover boxing promotion that pits social media influencers, YouTubers, reality television personalities and other celebrities against one another in sanctioned boxing contests. Launched in 2022 by British YouTuber KSI and promotional company Misfits Boxing, the series has quickly grown into one of the biggest names in crossover boxing, staging events on both sides of the Atlantic.
“I think that David Weir is going to be a perfect fit for Misfits Boxing,” Quigley told Donegal Daily. “I think that he can go in there. He can light things up and he can beat any of those Misfits guys. I am so happy with him and I am so pleased with his progression. David knows that there is a long way to go, but we are on a path.”
“David is a remarkable young fella. The way that he has progressed and the way that he has disciplined and dedicated himself over the last couple of months.
“The man’s coming 30 years of age, he is going to be boxing just one year in October so he’s not even boxing a year yet.”
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Weir had two fights in Dubai, one either side of Christmas, after deciding to enter the squared circle.
He was cornered by Quigley and Gerard Keaveney on Saturday night in the Finn Valley Centre – and Quigley believes that his man has shown remarkable improvement.
He said: “For his first fight in Dubai, he did no sparring, did no real training camp, but for his second fight started to do a little bit with me in Raphoe. He came up and we had a conversation. I gave him his schedule, I gave him the week’s training and he never missed a session. He busted his balls every single session, and I admire that.
“He knows that there’s a long, long way to go. Fighting away in Dubai and nice venues and arenas, that’s easy; you have nobody there that really knows you, or you might have a few friends or family or whatever, but in there tonight, he had everybody and everybody, family, friends, foes, you name it, everybody was out there to watch him tonight. He handled it so, so well.
“It’s all new to him, but the progression that he’s shown, I’m very proud of David, so I am, because he’s coming in here to a game that is one of the most difficult of sports that you can do in this world and he’s given it absolutely everything he’s got. His improvement is just fantastic.”
Weir’s entry brought the biggest cheer of the night so far, the south west Donegal man’s ring walk taking the roof off the venue.
“I’m starting this at 29, 30, and even the people who are in around my age or older than me, it’s never too late,” Weir, who has further fights lined up for later in the year, told Donegal Daily. “A lot of people said that to me when I took my first fight, look at me, look where I’m at now.
“I’m extremely hard on myself anyway because I know where I want to be. I have to be hard on myself, so I’ll go back and watch it over and get straight back into it then. This boxing game has done something serious for me in my life so I’m just trying to enjoy it.
“I’m trying to be around the best people possible in boxing because I know where I want to go, and to do that I have to play that catch-up game and be around the best, pick one or two things off every camp I’m going into, and every training session one day, you’re trying to be one percent better every single day, that’s what it’s all about.