Scott Quigg: Jono Carroll hopes I’m scared, and I’m not

Former 122-pound titleholder Scott Quigg has been on the sidelines since his Oct. 2018 win over Mario Briones, a tune-up that came seven months after a career-altering war with Oscar Valdez in the United States.

Valdez beat Quigg that night in California, two years ago now, but Quigg — who had missed weight — broke the Mexican warrior’s jaw and changed the way Valdez has approached boxing ever since.

Slated to return last April, Quigg suffered a “total freak accident” in training, and pulled out of his fight with Jayson Velez. He had to undergo surgery to repair an arm injury, and the same injury came back to bite him ahead of a scheduled Dec. 7 fight in Saudi Arabia against Jono Carroll.

Quigg vs Carroll and the rest of March’s best fights

It’s been a while, then, since the 31-year-old Quigg has been in the ring, active and fighting. That changes on Saturday (knock on wood), when his rescheduled bout with Carroll headlines on DAZN from Manchester, England.

It’s a matchup where Quigg (35-2-2, 26 KO) is fighting seriously for the first time as a 130-pounder, while the brash Dubliner Carroll (17-1-1, 3 KO) is a natural at the weight. Carroll is also the younger man, at 27, and almost certainly the fresher man, physically speaking.

Carroll, of course, has talked plenty, as the Irishman always does. But Quigg says that doesn’t bother him.

“The amount of nonsense he talks, because he talks that much, he starts to believe it,” Quigg says. “If he didn’t believe it he’d start going into himself, he’d start having the doubts. He hopes I’m scared. Unfortunately for him, I’m not scared of him.”

Quigg admits that Carroll is “the slightly bigger man,” but feels it won’t make the difference.

“I’m strong enough, I hit hard enough, I’m tough enough, and the main thing is I’m more than smart enough to deal with the bigger guys,” Quigg said. “I proved that day in day out at the Wildcard. People like Jono come through the Wildcard door every day and I’ve sparred and dealt with many people like him. I’m not taking it lightly, but I know what I need to do. I’ve put the right preparation in and I’m more than ready.”

A win for Quigg on Saturday would put him in good position to get back where he wants, into the big fights for world titles.

“The big thing I’m happy about is being back at home, showing the public I’m back,” he said. “I’d love rematches with the two people that beat me, (Carl) Frampton and Valdez, I’d love to get rematches with them. All of my focus at this moment is on Carroll. Once I’ve dealt with him, that’s when I’ll think about what’s next.”