Sky Sports Scholarships - Jason Quigley tells Sky Sports about his plans to win world gold

Jason Quigley has every reason to be confident going into October's AIBA World Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan.

With such a busy schedule of training and competitions, Quigley could be forgiven if he struggled to relax and find time for things outside of boxing. However, that is something the middleweight star sees as important and he makes sure he gets away from the sport when he gets the chance. "As soon as I come away from a tournament or something I'll always take a nice few days or a week or so off to myself to completely unwind, forget about boxing," he explains. "I try not to even chat about it or think about it as much as I can - I just chill out with my friends and family back at home. "Just because boxing now it's a job, it's a business for me. It's my sport that I've chosen to do so it's an everyday thing and when I get a chance to unwind and get away from it after a tournament, that's what I do. I forget about the boxing and I chill out with my friends and my family." The main aim for Quigley in the ring in the coming years is to win a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He believes that being part of the Sky Sports Scholarships programme, which launched in Ireland on Friday, will be of great assistance in his bid to achieve that goal. "The scholarship is going to be great for me," Quigley said. "I live three hours away from Dublin and where I train at the weekends and everything it's going to help me out with sports massages and being able to get everything together like that. "It'll be able to secure me going on training camps outside of the national team as well to the likes of America and getting my experience and everything build up for the road to Rio. It's a great confidence booster just to be involved with Sky at the minute." The Olympic success of another Irish boxer Katie Taylor, who won gold in London as a Sky Sports Scholar, is another reason the youngster is thrilled to be part of the scheme. "It's great to know that Sky took Katie on, knowing the potential that she had and then fulfilled," said Quigley. "It's great to know that Sky have the confidence and belief in me to go and do the same, which is great for me. "Katie's an unbelievable athlete and she's a great person. To go and do what she's done is amazing. I just hope I can go and follow in her footsteps and go the whole way as well." Whilst the Sky Sports Scholar still faces a number of challenges at amateur level, not least the upcoming World Championships and the Olympic Games, the idea of fighting professionally in future is one that certainly appeals to Quigley.

Ambition

"Rio is still a long way down the line but from a young age I've always dreamt of becoming a professional world champion as well," he admits. "Definitely I would love to give professional a go, give it a rattle and see how I would get on at it. It's an ambition and a goal of mine to become a professional world champion. "It's definitely in the pipeline and I'd be very nicely set up to go professional after a gold medal at the Olympics which would be very, very, very special." Quigley must now look to take the next step towards achieving his dreams in Almaty when the World Championships get under way on October 11. With the drive and purpose he has shown you wouldn't bet against one of Ireland's rising stars doing just that.