ASK Scott Quigg to single out the best fights of his career and he needs some time to think.

After so many big nights – mostly at the Manchester Arena as WBA World super bantamweight champion – it is understandable that the now retired 31-year-old cannot simply flick a switch and narrow down his 40 outings in the blink of an eye.

When Bury’s former world champion does finally come to answer it’s no surprise that he jumps around and remembers different fights for different reasons.

Ultimately his two-round battering of Kiko Martinez tops the lot, the victory over the well-respected Spaniard in July 2015 setting up his domestic blockbuster with Carl Frampton the following February.

Quigg’s first thought though is to a different victory and takes him back to November 2012 when he stopped Rendall Munroe in the sixth round of their rematch.

“My breakout performance was the second Munroe fight,” he says.

“It was a big card and I think that was the night where people really thought ‘this kid can fight’.

“Rendall Munroe still went on and had a few good fights, a couple of good wins. I’m not saying he was in the peak of his career but he wasn’t finished by any means.

Bury Times:

“I think that was certainly my breakout performance.

“My best win on paper is the Kiko Martinez fight. It led to the Frampton fight, the big night on pay-per-view and set me up for life money wise.

“Nobody expected me to go out there and demolish him like I did. You could have put anyone in front of me on that night and I wasn’t getting beaten. No matter who I was in the ring with.

“There’s also the (Tshifhiwa) Munyai fight, the (Stephane) Jamoye fight, some of the defences at the Arena, they were very good performances against very good quality fighters who had come over before and beaten some top UK fighters.

“I’ve had some very good wins.”

Few can argue with that but such is the nature of blood sport that Quigg also recalls a war that while it ended in defeat, saw him earn plenty of plaudits for his bravery.

His performance in losing against still unbeaten Oscar Valdez in California in March 2018 also saw him right a few wrongs from the previous day’s weigh in where coming in over the featherweight limit meant the Bury favourite could not win the Mexican’s WBO World title.

“One fight that sticks out the most that I really enjoyed was the Valdez fight,” Quigg said.

“That’s one I really did enjoy. It was a brutal fight, I got my nose smashed all over my face, I broke his jaw, just the whole thing.

“Unfortunately I came off second best but it was a war and it’s one that I look back on and think I gave him my best on the night.

“It was outdoor in America, it was hammering down and felt like I was back in Bury with the weather but everyone had travelled over.”

Another defeat springs to mind when your average boxing fan is asked about Quigg and the man himself is philosophical about his loss to Frampton four years ago.

In an era where some big fights are not put together due to promotional, financial or broadcasting issues, the two British super-bantamweight rivals did share 12 rounds, the Northern Irishman getting the better of things away from home at the Manchester Arena.

After plenty of trash talk between both camps in the run up to the unification clash, Quigg looks back on the night analytically rather than ruefully.

“Early on I got the tactics wrong,” he said.

“As soon I put the pressure on – did what I do – the fight was all mine but it was just too little, too late.

“My jaw being broken slowed me down for a couple of rounds but that’s no excuse because it wasn’t painful or anything like that.

“I don’t regret anything because when you regret something you can’t change it.

“There’s no way he trained harder than me but we got the tactics wrong on the night.

“Unfortunately that is a night that will be remembered in my career but credit to him, he got the win and went on to have some great fights against (Leo) Santa Cruz and others and he’s done very well in his career. But so have I.”