[1] Darren won British title at the age of 14 started boxing at 11 years old McDermott's first outing as a professional took place on 26 April 2003 with a fight at the Fountain Leisure Centre in Brentford defeating journeyman Leigh Wicks.
He next fought on 13 June 2003 in Queensway, London stopping Gary Jones in the 1st round and then on 30 October 2003 defeating Harry Butler in his home town of Dudley.
In 2005 and starting the year with a record of 6-0-1 McDermott only fought twice first defeating journeyman Howard Clarke on 21 April and then on 6 October beating Andy Halder at the Town Hall in Dudley to win the Midlands Area middleweight title, stopping him in the 5th round.
[7] Barker, making his third defence of the title, inflicted a second career defeat on the Dudley man with a 4th round stoppage after the referee deemed that McDermott had not beaten the count following a knockdown.
[8] McDermott's last fight of the year on 13 November 2009 resulted in a successful first defence of his English title beating Bristol's Danny Butler at the Fenton Manor Sports Complex in Stoke.
Speaking following the surgery McDermott said "obviously I’ll probably never box again and that is disappointing...with the Smith fight coming up I thought it was my chance to get into the big time...but these things happen for a reason and I feel very lucky".