By William Mackay: Unbeaten Darren Barker (20-0, 13 KO’s) will be facing a replacement Danny Butler (18-2, 3 KO’s) on Saturday night for the vacant BBBofC British middleweight title at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex. Barker, 27, was supposed to be facing Wayne Elcock, but he pulled out of the fight complaining of a stomach virus. Fortunately, the light hitting Butler was available to step in and take the fight with Barker. Butler, 22, recently was defeated by Darren McDermott in a 10 round decision on November 13th in a failed attempt to win the BBBofC English middleweight title.

Butler is a good fighter with nice hand speed and is good at putting punches together. He defeated the tough but game Paul Samuels by a 10 round Decision in July, and defeated Matt Scriven by a four round decision in June. Butler was defeated by Martin Murray by a three round split decision in November 2008.

Barker is coming off an impressive 4th round stoppage of Darren McDermott in May. Barker knocked McDemott to the canvas in the 4th round with a hard 1-2 combination to the head. The bout was then stopped by referee Dave Parris.

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Marco Huck vs. Ola Afolabi on December 5th

World Boxing Organization cruiserweight title holder Marco Huck (26-1, 20 KO’s) will be facing interim WBO cruiserweight champion Ola Afolabi (14-1-3, 6 KO’s) on December 5th at the Arena, Ludwigsburg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. Huck, 25, defeated WBO champion Victor Emilio Ramirez by a 12 round decision in August 2009.

Huck looked good against Ramirez, fighting well from both the inside and outside, outworking the champion and showing a great chin by taking Ramirez’s big shots. Ramirez had wore down top cruiserweight contender Alexander Alexeev with a high pressure attack to take the interim WBO cruiserweight tie in January 2009.

However, Huck proved to be immune to Ramirez’s pressure tactics and was able to skillfully move out of the way of Ramirez while continuing to pepper him with jabs and combinations to the head. Huck stood his ground frequently in the fight and got the better of Ramirez at close quarters with powerful shots to the head and body.

Afolabi, 29, defeated Enzo Maccarinelli by an impressive 9th round TKO in March to take the WBO interim cruiserweight title. Afolabi, who likes to fight in spurts, hurt Maccarinelli with a hard shot in the 3rd round while leaning against the ropes. After that, Afolabi took things easy for the next five rounds, mostly lying on the ropes and playing rope-a-dope with Maccarinelli. In the 9th, Afolabi sprung to life again, hurting Maccarinelli with a hard right to the body and then finishing him off with a big right hand to the head that sent Maccarinelli down face first on the canvas where the was counted out.

Afolabi may have a harder time hurting the steel chinned Huck with his shots. Huck can take a lot of punishment and still keep coming forward. This fight will likely come down to Huck outworking Afolabi and grinding out a decision. Afolabi won’t be able to win this fight by landing an occasional pot shot and fighting in spurts. Huck is capable of throwing a lot of punches and keeping his opponents under fire with his hard flurries. Huck has the youth going for him in this fight, the power, work rate and home town advantage.