Royston Barney-Smith said that he "needed to step up to another gear" for Saturday's win against Danny Quartermaine.

"Sugar Boy Roy" outclassed his opponent at the O2 Arena on the way to a unanimous decision, claiming the WBO and IBF European super-featherweight belts.

At 21, Barney-Smith remains unbeaten with 15 wins to his name.

"It's a big win and I'm really happy with the performance," he told BBC Sport.

"It meant a lot to me after an injury and some time out the gym this year, I just knew I had to step everything up to another gear and I did that.

"Every round I was hurting him so I just knew it was going to be a matter of time before I took him out, I knew I was capable of winning this fight and I did that but It was lingering on my mind."

This fight was originally scheduled to take place earlier in the year on the south coast in Bournemouth.

But Southampton's Barney-Smith had to pull out of the contest after suffering a knee injury weeks before the event.

Throughout the contest he looked the superior operator, landing clean strikes as Quartermaine tried to make the bout awkward later on with erratic flurries forward.

Southpaw Barney-Smith – who is trained by Ben Davison – hurt his opponent on a couple of occasions before dropping him in the 10th and final round with a sweet short right hand.

Quartermaine was a fighter the young talent had suggested to promoter Frank Warren as someone he wanted to test himself against.

"I needed to have a breakthrough fight," Barney-Smith added.

"I've been screaming for one for the last year and I finally had my chance so I took it with both hands.

"I don't want to keep fighting journeymen who keep running away from me, I want to fight a live opponent and land some big shots and that is what I did tonight."

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As well as being promoted by Warren and Queensberry, the 73-year-old also serves as his manager.

Before the contest, Warren described this fight as a "big moment" in Barney-Smith's career and teased that once he came through it there would be some exciting opportunities.

"British, European and Commonwealth, that's the direction he should be heading towards now," Warren told BBC Sport before the fight.

"We believe in Royston and we believe that this is the time for him, winning this fight will set him up for big things next year.

"He has the chance to get that momentum back that he previously had, and launch himself into 2026 to be fighting for big, big titles."

Despite being twice scheduled to fight in Bournemouth, the Southampton fighter has not yet been able to do so after two injury pull-outs.

He could still get the chance to fight there with talk of Queensberry planning a show with fellow Southampton boxer Ryan Garner early next year.

Boxing could also return to his home town this summer with further talk that if Garner wins his next fight, he could headline a show at St Mary's Stadium.

"Honestly it would be a dream come true to fight on that card," Barney-Smith said.

"But before that I'd like to get out one more time before the end of the year but I will have to talk to Frank," he said.

"I just want to keep climbing the ladder now and pushing on for bigger and better things, I'm expecting a big 2026 with many more titles to come, stay tuned."

• Davison's gym among best in the world – Barney-Smith
• Barney-Smith withdraws from Bournemouth show
• Boxing schedule and results 2025

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