Jason Quigley aims to relaunch his pro career at National Stadium on Saturday

This is the first time he has boxed professionally on Irish soil, but he will have fond memories of the South Circular Road venue having won ten Irish amateur titles there.

The Donegal fighter will meet Hungarian Gabor Gorbics in a super middleweight contest.

It is Quigley’s first fight since he was suffered a broken jaw and was knocked out in the second round of a WBO  middleweight world title fight by defending champion Demetrius Andrade in the US in November 2021.

Thirty-five-year old Gorbics is a late replacement for Anatoli Hunanyan (40) who himself was a replacement for Quigley’s original opponent Kim Poulson from Denmark who had a decent 30-6 record.

Gorbics is an archetypal journeyman with a 26-36 professional record. He last won in 2018 and he has been beaten in 24 of his last 26 fights – the other two were scored as draws. But he very active having fought as recently as March 18.

Quigley faces a long road ahead to get back among the contenders in the middleweight division.

Interestingly Robert Diaz, the famed Los Angeles-based matchmaker who worked with Quigley when he was attached to the Golden Boy stable in the US, is flying into Dublin to see the fight.

Quigley (31) who has a 19-2 record with 14 wins inside the distance needs to get rounds under his belt but it remains to be seen how long Gorbics will last against him.

“This feels like I’ve come home. If ever there was a venue that I feel I can box in and say that it’s home, it’s here in the National Stadium,” said Quigley.

“It has been a great place for me to come and fight through the years as an amateur. It’s very exciting to come here and do it as a professional. It’s brilliant and I’m really excited for Saturday,” added Quigley after this afternoon’s weigh-in.

His fellow Donegal man Brett McGinty, who trains in Manchester under the eye of Ricky Hatton, will be aiming to make it seven wins on the spin when he meets Patrik Fiala (5-3). He is hoping to get an opportunity to fight for a BUI light middleweight Celtic title.

The stop-start nature of his professional career so far has left him frustrated.

“Activity is everything. Now that I’m stepping up the rounds – this is a six (rounds), my next could be eight – the fights may not be thick and fast, but I do want activity," he said.

“I came out of the amateurs, where you could have had two fights in a weekend or four or five times in a month, to being so slow since I’ve turned over.”

Other fighters on the card which is a collaboration between Sheer Sports Management and Elite Sports Production include Paddy Donovan (9-0) whose career has been disrupted by a hand injury, Liam Walsh and James McGivern.