With GBM Sports finding a home on DAZN, their first night under the banner delivered mixed results for their promotional roster.
Danny Quartermaine (12-0), one of the key faces of the promotion, would overcome late replacement – Romanian fighter James Chereji (20-5) – despite his reckless ring behaviour. The IBF European Super-Featherweight champion was caught flush in the opening round with a short, sharp left hook.
The Warwickshire native quickly got back to his feet and resumed, still eager to bull-rush his opponent; one who has shared the ring with the likes of Liam Paro (25-0) and Jono Carroll (24-2-1). In the haze, Chereji was able to pick off some brilliant shots in the opening stanzas, one that swept the competition in his favour, early on.
With the replacement starting to tire out and lose shape in the middle rounds, Quartermaine found his groove and returned to his usual form, using his activity to out-work the Romanian. It soon became clear that Quartermaine was starting to use his ring IQ and concentrate more, as his work became methodical and effective.
Quartermaine would, eventually, earn the swing and retain his IBF European belt, whilst adding the WBO European belt to his collection. There is certainly heaps of talent within the youngster and, given the DAZN deal, it would not be surprising to see him graduate into the ranks of Matchroom in the future; although the bout did expose some growing pains, with it being much closer than the scorecards would suggest.
In chief support, another GMB staple – Nyall Berry (10-1) – would lose in an upset to undefeated Italian Francesco De Rosa (9-0), earning the IBF European Super-Bantamweight belt on foreign soil.
De Rosa, the taller man, was quicker to the punch and was out-throwing Berry throughout their time in the squared circle. Often, Berry was simply moving without attempting any sort of resistance, following the whims of his Italian opponent.
Many times, De Rosa was allowed to wildly swing at Berry, finding success due to Berry’s inability to break from his guard and put up counter-measures. This was showcased in the eighth round of their contest, when a flurry from De Rosa sent Berry to the canvas on the ropes.
On his knees, it was clear that the work-rate of De Rosa had taken the fire from Berry, who relented – getting up only to be sent to the same spot once more.
Established English super-middleweight fixture River Wilson-Bent (17-4-2) also garnered a win on the night, with a home-town points decision over Matt McCallum (7-4). Bent, who has lost to the likes of Hamzah Sheeraz (20-0), Tyler Denny (19-2-3) and Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams (16-1) would earn himself another win under the promotion, having started the process of rebuilding.
Likely, the judges favoured his movement, as he proved to be the more agile of the two, whilst ‘Stark’ was left to follow; although a blistering right hand in the fifth was a crowd-pleasing display that nailed Bent to the floor.
Aside from those rare moments, it was mostly a fight of ‘smother and move’ from Bent, a strategy that clearly appealed to the judges.
Galway lad Kieran Molloy (9-0) and Southampton’s Matthew King (8-5) put on an appealing brawl, with the welterweights willing to stand and trade, to the delight of fans. Despite the loss, King is still geared up to earn the BBBofC Southern Area Super-Lightweight title in his next bout, whilst Molloy is set to move on to bigger things in the British scene, particularly with a statement performance such as this.
Also of note, heavyweight Arlo Stephens (2-0) of the York Boxing Club produced a thunderous first round knockout of Belarusian fighter Viktar Chvarkou (5-15) in the preliminaries. Certainly, with such a performance under his belt, the young Stephens could be a name to keep in mind, moving forward.
So, with upsets and entertainment in equal measure, the first DAZN outing of GBM proved to be a success, generating social media buzz across the UK in the process.