'I'm doing this for Leamington': Boxing champion Danny Quartermaine on what is driving him to be the best

Danny Quartermaine shows off his IBF European Super Featherweight belt at Leamington FC on Saturday. Credit: Cameron Murray

Leamington boxing hero Danny Quartermaine says one of his main motivations in to ‘put the town back on the map’ and continue its proud history in the sport by honouring the legendary Turpin brothers.

The 26-year-old, who lives in Cubbington, beat Alex Rat by technical knockout to win the vacant IBF European Super Featherweight belt in front of hundreds of supporters in what was his 100th fight (11th professional with an undefeated record) at the Skydome in Coventry this month.

It is the town’s greatest professional boxing success since the days of the late 1940s and early 1950s when the Turpin brothers Dick and Randolph – who also had strong ties to Warwick - were champions of Britain, the Commonwealth and the world.

Left to right: Mick Carney, Pip Quartermaine, Edwin Cleary, Sue Panter (girlfriend), Danny Quartermaine, Tom Kelly and Izzy Asif (promoter) celebrate Danny's IBF European Super Featherweight title win at the Skydome in Coventry earlier this month. Picture supplied.

Speaking to the Courier this week Danny, of Cleary’s Boxing Gym which is based in Whitnash, said: “The main priority for me is bringing titles back to Leamington and carrying on that Turpin legacy.

“This success is coming around at just the right time to bring that legacy back to the forefront when there’s youngsters coming through and I can remind them of that.

"When I met Ricky Hatton, he told me to build my fanbase locally – I sold about 450 tickets for the last fight – so by doing these things that’s what I will be able to do.”

Danny won the European title by fourth-round technical knockout.

Danny Quartermaine after winning the IBF European Super Featherweight belt. Picture submitted.

Rat, his highly-rated opponent, was unable to come out of his corner for another round.

This was not the first time Danny has won in this way recently and his coach Edwin Cleary has quoted the iconic character from the Rocky films by jokingly saying “he has retired more men than social security”.

Danny, who has recently been signed by promotions company GBM Sports, has been coached by Edwin since he was aged 12.

He now has his sights set on more titles including the WBO European, Commonwealth and a British title – the latter of which would be the most prestigious at this point in his early but impressive career.

He said: “Now I have this belt there’s more of a risk factor for people if they consider fighting me now.

“I just want to push on and seek bigger fights

"I’ve got myself into the flow where I want to keep moving forward with my career.

"There’s lots of opportunities out there and titles I want to try to pick up if the timing is right and if the fight fits.

"A British title would be the toughest to get at present because there’s so much talent and competition out there – some of it even world level - but I want to go as far as I can.”