Macklin could face Barker next

By Boxing News - 01/09/2011 - Comments

Image: Macklin could face Barker nextBy Sean McDaniel: European Boxing Union (EBU) middleweight champion Matthew Macklin (28-2, 19 KO’s) will possibly be defending his title against 28-year-old Darren Barker (22-0, 14 KO’s) in the near future, according to boxing news from frankwarren.tv. The bout has reportedly been put out for purse bids, so we could possibly be seeing something very soon. This is the second time that these two fighters have attempted to put a fight together. Last year, Barker came up injured when they were supposed to fight in September.

The fight may happen unless Frank Warren opts to put Macklin in with one of the world champions such as Felix Sturm, Sebastian Sylvester or Sergio Martinez. Macklin is ranked #3 WBA, #4 WBC, #6 WBO and #7 IBF. Macklin defeated Ruben Varon by a 12 round decision in December in Macklin’s first title defense. It wasn’t an impressive performance by Macklin, as he was hit often in the fight and failed to dominate the little known Varon.

If that fight is any gauge of how good Macklin is, then he’s not going to successful challenging one of the world champions. There’s a huge gulf in talent between guys like Varon and Martinez, Sylvester, Sturm and Dimitry Pirog. In that case, Macklin might be better off going after Barker and being content with defending the EBU title. Barker has little power to speak of, and fights in a mostly mechanical manner. Although some boxing fans have compared Barker to Joe Calzaghe for some absolutely strange reason, I can’t see anything in Barker’s style that reminds me of Calzaghe.

Barker is more of a robotic jabber, a fighter that jabs a lot and is very rigid, tight and lacks flexibility in movement. He’s very mechanical and is perhaps more the opposite of Calzaghe than anything like him. Macklin should easily beat Barker. If not, then Macklin needs to downsize his ambitions and be content with holding down one of the smaller domestic titles. Barker is one of those fighters that you have to beat to get to the next level. If Macklin fails at this test, then he doesn’t belong fighting better fighters in the world stage.



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