ROYSTON BARNEY-SMITH claimed a wide unanimous decision victory over Danny Quartermaine, utilising his fluid movement and spiteful repertoire of attacks to shine brightly at the O2 Arena, London, earlier this evening.
Their clash was supposed to take place last July, back when Ryan Garner headlined a Queensberry bill against Reece Bellotti at the Bournemouth International Centre.
With Barney-Smith, 15-0 (7 KOs), pulling out due to an injury, though, their super-featherweight encounter just so happened to land on this Joseph Parker-Fabio Wardley undercard instead.
In the opening round, it was Barney-Smith’s prolific right jab, in particular, that did just enough to edge their early exchanges.
The following few sessions then seemed to tell a similar story, with Quartermaine, 13-1-1 (4 KOs), discovering soon enough that he was up against an especially speedy operator.
As the third round came to a close, Barney-Smith stung his man with a vicious left hand – leaving him visibly hurt – before keeping his foot on the gas in a vastly one-sided fourth visit.
Quartermaine then gave a strong effort in the following round, only to find himself getting picked apart at range.
Sticking and moving behind his lead hand, Barney-Smith then seamlessly banked the next few sessions, encountering few problems as he kept to his gameplan.
Quartermaine, charging into range with his head, then had a point deducted in round seven, with his infringement only widening the margin of Barney-Smith’s lead.
In the end, a lack of competitive action eventually culminated in a 10th-round knockdown, and despite climbing off the canvas, Quartermaine could have quite easily been stopped on his feet.
But instead, the 28-year-old found himself on the wrong end of three particularly wide cards – 99-90 and 100-88, twice – as he tasted defeat for the first time as a professional.
