Barker-Martinez: He’ll feel my power – Darren
September 23rd, 2011
By William Mackay: Former EBU middleweight champion Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KO’s) is stepping it up against 1st tier opposition for the first time in his career next week when he faces WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Barker said this to Sky Sports Ringside: “I’m going to prove that the underdog can cause big upsets. I’ve always had a knack for fighting southpaws. I was sparring with them everyday and I developed a knack for beating southpaws. That’s another reason why I wanted to fight Martinez. We’ve come up with a plan to beat him. It’s just a matter of executing it on that night. He [Martinez] started boxing when he was 20. I started boxing when I was 12. So I have the pedigree there. If anything, I’m the better boxer. I’m going to win this fight and then take [Matthew] Macklin on.”
What Barker fails to mention is that the southpaws he’s done well against are nowhere near as good as Martinez. Barker has been facing C level southpaws and he’s trying to compare that with taking on Martinez. You can throw out Barker’s previous success against southpaws because it won’t mean a thing against Martinez. He’s a 1st tier southpaw, not a 3rd tier fighter. And Barker’s experience really doesn’t matter either. Martinez is a great athlete and he was smart enough and coordinated enough to learn the sport quickly. For some fighters, it takes them a lot longer to develop skills and learn the game. Martinez is one of the smarter and more gifted fighters that picked it up fast.
It’s doubtful that Barker will get the fight against Macklin because he’s probably not going to be interested in facing Barker if he gets blasted out by Martinez. It’s going to be back to the old drawing board for Barker.
Tags: 14 Responses to “Barker-Martinez: He’ll feel my power – Darren”
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sergio will be too fast for barker..barker wont b able to adjust fast enough,..if darren could make it to rd 6 it would be a big ask,darren will have to play catchup leaving himself himself wide open for the next six. would love to see darren pull it off, this fight is a couple of fights too early in his career.
I would love Barker to win but i don’t think he will. For me Barker doesn’t have the power to keep the marauding Martinez at bay. Sure Barkers boxing ability or hit and run tactics will keep him in the fight until late on but i believe Martinez will eventually catch up with Barker and see him off, i hope i’m wrong. Peace x
@ M4RKS. Rock, scissors, paper dude!
You are such a little loser. Both brits will lose
Martinez must be shaking in his boots at the thought of facing a former EBU middleweight champion lol.
barker beats martinez & murray beats sturm!! barker vs murray. great great prospect
ryan_g you little sissy, stop using those pathetic smiley faces. Barker is from barnet, so he’s a plastic, glory-hunting muppet for supporting chelsea
who would win Pavlik or Barker? Pavlik. Who smashed Pavlik? Martinez.
Barker will cause an upset. Barker is Very very underrated and will give Martinez trouble. Martinez is in for a long night.
they are ignored or unknown as fighters
good shout annonymous…
martinez is double hard though its going to be tough. the way for barker to win, in my opinion, is to stay slick and move around the ring, make martinez miss a lot more than he lands and pick his shots well. step up through the gears between 5-7 and then finish strong. if he goes for an early flurry then he will get caught out.
people have misconceptions about martinez’ power because of the way he knocked out paul williams. im not saying he isnt a big puncher but he’s only just above 50% KO ratio… and barker is tough. obviously, he’s a chelsea boy
if barker is gonna cause an upset this mean that in Europe are a lot of underrated fighters that don’t have the chance to show their greatness !
agreed!!!
his last fight was against spada ranked 6 by wba!! he beat him easily after being out for 12mnths!! barker is guna cause an upset