By Matt Bozeat
THE leafy lanes, lush parks and regal name don’t give any clues to Royal Leamington Spa’s sporting history.
Only when you visit the museum is there a reminder of a time when this picturesque Warwickshire town was known for its fighters.
There, you find newspaper cuttings from July 1951, when Randolph Turpin, known as ‘The Leamington Licker,’ toppled the great Sugar Ray Robinson from the top of the boxing world.
Randolph Turpin demonstrates his crouching style against Sugar Ray Robinson during a world middleweight title fight at Earl’s Court, London on July 10, 1951 (Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)
Robinson had his revenge only 64 days later, but more than seven decades on, Turpin is remembered for pulling off one of the greatest wins in British boxing history, while elder brother Dick was the first black boxer to win the British title and Jackie had 130 fights in a 13-year pro career.
Fast forward to today and Leamington is a fight town again.
2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lewis Williams, and Joe Bourne, are exciting heavyweight hopes and will be in Coventry on Saturday, June 29, to cheer on their gym mate Danny Quartermaine when he tops the bill against former European bantamweight champion Karim Guerfi in a 10-rounder.
Williams, Bourne and Quartermaine have been given numerous history lessons on the Turpins by coach Edwin Cleary, a former pro taught by Jackie Turpin when he was an amateur.
The new generation of Leamington fighters found their inspiration elsewhere.
Williams started boxing because he loved Muhammad Ali, Bourne was inspired by his fighting father – and Quartermaine loved the ‘Rocky’ movies.
Cleary rolls his eyes as he recalls how Quartermaine knows the words of every one of the films.
“You can say they are gimmicky and they are,” said the 26-year-old super featherweight, “but they have a message.”
The message Quartermaine takes from the films is ‘perseverance and desire’.
“That’s how Chuck Wepner lasted so long with Muhammad Ali (the fight that inspired Sylvester Stallone to write the first film) and that’s how Ali beat (Joe) Frazier and (George) Foreman. Ali beat them because he refused to lose.
“That’s a strong message.
“I was seven when I first started watching ‘Rocky’, and every time I watched one of the films, I would go to the garage afterwards and hit the bag.”
The bag had been hung there by his father, Pip.
Pip Quartermaine was a Pathfinder in the Army and passed out the same year as Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham MBE.
“It was drilled into me from an early age to win, to be the best – and to inflict pain,” said Quartermaine, an unpredictable roughhouse with a huge appetite for fighting who’s won all 11 fights in his four-year pro career.
“I have had fights where I was winning comfortably, but I pushed myself on to hurt them. That mentality must come from my Dad.
“The mentality Dad was taught was: ‘Even if there’s 25 of them, you carry on, you don’t quit.’”
There will only be one coming out of the opposite corner at the Skydome this month, but that one is a seasoned championship level fighter.
“I’m trying to take fights that will get me noticed,” said Quartermaine. “I’m taking risks that others don’t want to take.
“When I boxed on a Sky show (last May) I turned the first opponent down. We said we wanted someone tougher. The matchmaker said that never happens!
“I want to be progressing. I want to climb the ladder. I have confidence in my ability.”
Quartermaine turned pro with 90 amateur bouts behind him and says his self-belief soared after sparring Michael Conlan before he boxed Leigh Wood (in March, 2022).
“I did eight rounds with a broken thumb and they asked me to come back,” he said. “That gave me so much confidence.”
Quartermaine has come through decent tests in his last two fights.
He dominated Jack Hillier (10-0) and broke Alex Rat (17-6-2) in four rounds in March, a result that compares well with Archie Sharp’s (pictured below) 10-round points win over the Spaniard.
Rat had been dropped, cut and had seen his best punches just bounce off Quartermaine. After 12 minutes, he had had enough.
Quartermaine, who is sure to take hundreds of supporters with him to Coventry this month, says his style is “unpredictable.”
He said: “You expect a jab, back hand, left hook. It’s predictable. If you keep throwing the overhand right, his cornerman will tell him: ‘Look out for the overhand right.’
“I get them around the sides, up the middle, to the body and they can’t block everything. (Christian Lopez) Flores said after I beat him: ‘I didn’t know where they were coming from.’
“I’m aggressive, I’m on the front foot, but I like to keep them thinking. I gave Rat so much to think about, so much to worry about that he ended up thinking: ‘I can’t deal with this’ and quit on his stool.”
That was Quartermaine’s first fight since linking up with promoters GBM and says it will be “a similar story” when he faces veteran Guerfi in front of the DAZN cameras.
Quartermaine’s prediction?
“Paaaain!”
Obviously.