Chastening night for Quartermaine

It wasn’t Danny Quartermaine’s defeat to Royston Barney-Smith that surprised me: the lightning-fast South Coast southpaw was always going to present a very hard night's work.

- THE MIDLAND BOXING BEAT WITH MIKE LOCKLEY

It was the overwhelming nature of that defeat at London's 02 Arena that shocked this writer.

You can’t sugarcoat it. Leamington’s IBF and WBO European junior-lightweight champ - unbeaten in 14 before Saturday night - was outfought and out-thought from first bell to last.

To his credit, trainer Edwin Cleary has refused to sugarcoat what happened or offer excuses. When I spoke to the former pro, he appeared equally puzzled.

He said: “Afterwards, he sat with me and said, ‘I thought I was there, but not there.’ I honestly think the occasion got to him”

Quartermaine’s legion of Spa town fans - a noisy army that believe their hero is destined for world glory - are probably still finding it hard to comprehend what they witnessed.

On paper, it appeared a 50-50 clash between two quality fighters: Southampton’s Barney-Smith, now 15-0, is seen as a star of the future. This was his toughest test.

On canvas, it was anything but. Quartermaine was hurt in the dying embers of the third, referee Marcus McDonnell docked a point for illegal use of the shoulder in the seventh and a thoroughly miserable evening ended with a count in the final round.

The scores reflected 21-year-old Barney-Smith’s superiority. Two judges had it 100-88 - for those who struggle with boxing arithmetic, that’s a 12 round victory in a 10 round fight, the other 98-90.

Defending champ Quartermaine tried to impose himself physically, forcing forward, only to be nailed by Barney-Smith’s flashing fists.

He appeared to have no answer to those straight, southpaw left hands and ran into sharp counters.