Andy Lee has backed Jason Quigley to get a shot at the big time.
By Chris McNulty in Indio, California
Former WBO middleweight champion Lee has encouraged Quigley to ‘get active’ as he bids to climb the ladder.
Quigley faces Freddy Hernandez on Thursday night to defend the NABF middleweight belt – a strap Lee won against Alex Bunema in 2011 (pictured).
Three years later, Lee stopped Matt Korobov to win the WBO middleweight title.
This week, Quigley is in California to defend the belt he won in March 2017. A broken right hand and a severed tendon sustained in the win over Glen Tapia kept Quigley out of the ring for a full year, until he beat Daniel Rosario in Boston.
“He’s a guy with star potential,” Lee, speaking on the Off The Brawl show, said of Quigley.
“He needs to get busy. There’s no substitute for activity.
“When you box regularly, you build up an instinct. The reflexes become automatic when you’re active. I’d like to see him get active and get bust. The big fights will happen.
“There’s no rush to throw him into big fights.”
Quigley had been in negotiations for a bout with Ryota Murata for the WBA world middleweight belt, but the sanctioning body ordered Murata to face mandatory challenger Rob Brant – a bout that takes place in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Lee said: “It would have been a huge fight if he’d got the Murata one. It would’ve been winnable for him. It would have been a nice fight for Quigley to announce himself
“The big fights will come.”