By Nate Anderson: In an article Setanta Sports, new Commonwealth heavyweight champion Sam Sexton (12-1, 5 KOs) wants a fight with undefeated heavyweight Derek Chisora (9-0, 5 KOs), who prefers a 6th round TKO over Sexton last year. Sexton defeated the 38-year-old former Commonwealth champion Rogan last Friday night in a fight that failed to prove who the better man was after Sexton got badly hurt by Rogan in the 8th and got a break when the ringside doctor stopped the bout later in the round.
At the time of the stoppage, Sexton was in serious trouble and on the verge of being knocked out by Rogan. At one point, a nearly defenseless Sexton bizarrely turned his back to Rogan to prevent from being hit by the Irish fighter.
The referee Dave Parris then took the opportunity to warn Rogan for throwing a rabbit punch without giving any warnings to Sexton about turning his back to his opponent. Sexton, 24, didn’t appear to be interested in a rematch with Rogan immediately after the fight, saying that he wanted to move forward to bigger and better fights.
Nothing has changed since then as Sexton still doesn’t want to fight a rematch with Rogan and prefers to try and clear his name by fighting Chisora once more and see if he can have been luck in a rematch. If Sexton’s chin and stamina hold out, he would have a good chance to beat Chisora if Sexton can fight the way did against Rogan for the first seven rounds.
Unfortunately, Sexton had problems in the 8th round and looked tired as Rogan attacked him with heavy power shots to the head. Chisora isn’t much of a puncher but he has a good jab and could possibly beat Sexton if he can stick around long enough to beat him by a narrow decision.
Barker to Fight McDermott on Saturday Night
Unbeaten Commonwealth middleweight champion Darren Barker (19-0, 12 KOs) will be defending his title on Saturday night against Darren McDermott in a 12-round scheduled bout at the Watford’s Coliseum. Barker, 27, is making his fourth defense of his middleweight title, is taking on the tough 30-year-old McDermott and hoping to get through to him in order to meet up with Matthew Macklin (24-2, 17 KOs), the new British middleweight champion after a third round knockout over former champion Wayne Elcock in March.
McDermott has previously been stopped by Elcock in the 2nd round last year in June, and seemed to have problems with Elcock’s fast start. McDermott acknowledges Barker’s obvious boxing skills but feels that his power will be enough to overcome Barker’s better skills. Barker is coming off a 6th round stoppage of Jason Mckay in December.
Barker gave Mckay a methodical beating, blasting him repeatedly with hard right hands and swelling up Mckay’s face with the hard shots. Mckay was hurt in the 1st round by big right hands from Barker, although he escaped the round without hitting the canvas.
However, Mckay was knocked into the ropes at one point by a huge right hand from Barker. After getting hurt a second time in the round, Mckay clinched Barker and held on for dear life. That round seemed to take the fight out of Mckay, who looked like never got it together after that point.
Mckay was staggered again in the 3rd by a big right hand from Barker. In the 5th and 6th rounds, it was all one way traffic with Barker pounding Mckay unceasingly for the entire round without firing anything back. After the round 6th ended, McKay’s corner put a stop to the bout.