SUGAR Ray Leonard is sure to be tuning in to watch the Brit he compares to arch enemy Roberto Duran next weekend.
Danny Quartermaine was compared to ‘Hands of Stone’ by Leonard when he visited him in Los Angeles two summers ago.
One of Quartermaine’s sponsors won an auction to spend 10 days with Leonard in the States and sent him with his coach Edwin Cleary.
Quartermaine has since captured the IBF European and WBO European super-featherweight belts and defends them against Royston Barney-Smtih on the Joseph Parker-Fabio Wardley undercard at the O2 Arena a week on Saturday.
The 27 year old from Leamington Spa remembered: “I showed him some of my fights and punched the bag in his house.
“He said: ‘You remind me of Roberto Duran, the way you drop down and hit the body.’”
Quartermaine believes body shots could be the key to bursting Barney-Smith’s bubble at the O2 Arena.
“There’s plenty of body to aim at,” he said. “I think I will make him quit. I will have too much for him.”
If that happens, expect Quartermain to tell viewers on DAZN pay-per-view afterwards that he has “retired more men than social security.”
That is a line Apollo Creed used in Rocky IV.
The film celebrates its 40th anniversary next month – and Quartermaine is very familiar with it.
He knows the words of every film in the ‘Rocky’ franchise.
“The stories pulled me in,” he said. “I still watch them all the time, either when they are on telly or if there’s nothing to watch, I put a DVD on.
“People relate to the stories and they motivate you.
“Most fighters will tell you that after watching a ‘Rocky’ movie they go out for a run or start hitting the punch bag. They have that effect on you.”
Quartermaine had his own ‘Rocky’ fight to win the vacant WBO European belt last June, outpointing James Chereji over 10 rounds after being dropped in the first round and cut.
He said: “I got two cuts in that fight, bad cuts, and I still went and did what I wanted. Where has Royston got his seasoning from ?
“He hasn’t had any gruelling rounds yet. I’m used to them and I enjoy them. I’m a fighting man. I like fighting. I fancied this fight from the start.”
