December 7: Danny Quartermaine vs Jack Bateson
Danny Quartermaine (12-0, 4KO) will defend his WBO and IBF European super-featherweight titles on December 7 to Jack Bateson (20-1, 6KO) in Sheffield.
Leamington Spa’s hurricane Quartermaine faces his toughest career test in the main event on a GBM Sports show at Sheffield’s Park Community Arena, live on DAZN.
Once-beaten Bateson is a former English champion who has won three on the spin since his sole career defeat to now IBO World super-bantamweight champion, Shabaz Masoud.
The Leeds 30-year-old has competed at super-bantam – two divisions below the December showdown – so Quartermaine appears to hold the physical advantages.
27-year-old Danny, part of Edwin Cleary’s flourishing gym, last fought in June, securing a wide points win over stand-in opponent James Chereji, but there were scares along the way. He was knocked down in the first, then cut and bruised.
Bateson provides something of an acid test for Quartermaine so the stakes are high. Win this and the Warwickshire warrior gatecrashes the WBO top 10 world rankings.
“This one is big because it’s two British fighters,” said coach Cleary. “He [Bateson] is a very good kid. It’s exactly what Danny needs right now, it’s the right fight at the right time and he’s really excited about it. It’s a great fight and, yes, it’s Danny’s toughest to date.
“But I think Jack will give Danny the chance to show his boxing skills.
“You won’t hear Danny slagging Jack Bateson off and Jack won’t slag Danny off.”
Cleary, who fought as a pro out of Sheffield’s famed Ingle gym, believes Quartermaine’s victory over Chereji has been undervalued. The Romanian has mixed in very good class in a higher weight category.
“You have to beat British boxers to get recognition,” Cleary said. “After the knockdown – it was a stumble but a knockdown, we’ve no problems with that – Danny didn’t lose a round.
“He had two cuts, he couldn’t see and he didn’t drop a round. That was the fight that made the rest realise, ‘I’m in for a tough night with Danny Quartermaine’. He’s a nightmare for anyone.
“That knockdown in the first ignited the fire in him to fight, which can be a problem, but I’d rather have that than a shrinking violet. Whoever they put in front of him, he will fight.”
Cleary’s gym – both pro and amateur – is enjoying a boom. Commonwealth Games heavyweight gold medallist Lewis Williams makes his professional debut on the Resorts World bill this Saturday.
Cleary added: “We’re on the crest of a wave and have been for the last 10 years. We’re putting that Turpin [former Leamington world middleweight champ Randolph Turpin] boxing stamp back on the town.”
Sharp-shooting livewire ‘Razor’ Ali occupies the chief support slot in an IBO Continental Super Bantamweight Championship clash with Nyall Berry, preceded by a Commonwealth Super Featherweight Championship eliminator bout between Levi Giles and Qais Asfaq which will send the winner forward to a title shot.
In addition, GBM’s rising stars Arlo Stephens, Amaar Akbar, Ed Hardy and Taz Nadeem step up to show their skill, crowd favorites Nico Leivars and Muhammed Ali are set to bring the heat and GBMs Irish sensation Kieran Molloy returns to the ring for another crowd-pleasing performance.