DONEGAL middleweight Jason Quigley rebooted his career last night in Las Vegas.

He captured the WBO-NABO middleweight belt with a majority 2-0 win over Shane Mosley Jr in a terrific contest to put himself back in the shop window for a crack at a world title.

"Viva Ireland," declared an emotional Quigley who fell to his knees and wept tears of relief when the result was announced.

Judge Paul Caiz Jr scored the fight 95-95 but the other two ringside officials, Chris Migliore and Steve Weisfeid, gave the 30-year-old Irishman the verdict on scores of 97-93, 96-94 respectively. He moves to 19-1.

There was no doubting the merit of Quigley’s win albeit in a tight contest. He was the more accurate puncher, landing 32 pc of his punches compared to 25 pc for Mosley. The latter did land two more power punches (96-94). But in all but three of the ten rounds Quigley outpunched his opponent who had won 17 of his previous 20 contests.

It was Quigley’s first fight since January 2020 and his first significant contest since his only career loss against Tureano Johnson in 2019.

“I have been through a hell of a lot to get here. I know every fighter does. I knew it could have gone either way. When I heard the draw (the scorecard from the judge Caiz Jr) I thought it was going to be a draw. When I got the victory of course I’m happy.

“Nobody knows what goes into a training camp. Nobody knows what we go through to get into the ring and then put it all on the line when we get in here.”

A feature of the contest was Quigley’s superb conditioning and the sight of him dancing on his toes in the seventh round was a fight-defining moment.

“I went back to what I was good at and what got me here. All my skills, using my feet, using my hands and looking like the fresher fighter in there. I knew it was close, I had to go to him.

“I had to land some big shots, I had to hurt him. He said to me at the end ‘You are one hell of a tough fighter’ and so is he."

The fight had been postponed on two previous occasions and this time around Quigley had to fight without having his regular trainer Andy Lee in his corner. The former world champion was unable to travel to the US due to a visa hiccup.

Belfast icon Wayne McCullough, who now lives in Las Vegas, was the lead man in his corner and Quigley paid tribute to both as well as his family and fans back in his native Ballybofey.

He revealed he had linked up again with psychologist Gerry Hussey – the pair would have worked together during Quigley’s amateur career.

“I did affirmations, I did meditation, I did yoga. Gerry Hussey really helped me out,”

Quigley even became a fan of visualisation having previously being sceptical about its benefits. “I would have been one of those people saying if I visualise it how it is going to happen. You have to go and do it. I visualised this moment.

“This positive stuff is no joke, it is real. It really does mean something. All the visualisation I done got me here.”

Quigley now wants a crack at Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade, the WBO World middleweight champion. He recalled that prior to him hitting the big time, Andrade had called him out. “He didn’t even pronounce my second name right.”

Quigley is now ready to fight the unbeaten American. “I’m not saying that I am going to get in there and kick your ass. I will get in there and put on one hell of a fight. I have a belt you have got the main one. Give me crack at that title.”