By Scott Gilfoid: It’s safe to say that Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KO’s) is about to get knocked cold and badly beaten by former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) next month on October 1st at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
I’d say the probably of Barker getting knocked out if around 90%, with the remainder being Barker taking terrible punishment in losing a one-sided 12 round decision. But Barker seems to be drinking the same kool-aid as fellow countryman David Haye in believing himself capable of great things, as he thinks he’s going to beat Martinez. It’s pretty sad actually. He doesn’t yet know his own limitations. He will though, very soon.
“A fight I’m 100 percent certain I’m going to win and shock the world of boxing,” Barker said on Sky Sports Ringside.
I don’t think there’s going to be any shocking going on in this fight, except maybe a shocking 1st or 2nd round knockout for Martinez. Even that wouldn’t be really shocking because Barker is going into this fight a huge underdog with basically no chance.
It’s not like when Martinez fought Paul Williams in a rematch last November where boxing fans had no idea that Martinez was going to flatten Williams in the 2nd round. Barker is a step down in competition from Williams, both in terms of work rate and power. The speed is about the same as Williams, meaning slow.
Barker doesn’t have much hand speed and fights in a mechanical robotic fashion, as if he had hinges on all of his joints. He doesn’t really do anything particularly good. He looks bad fighting inside and outside, and doesn’t use his height well even against really short guys. He makes every fight much harder than it should be because of his flaws in fundamentals and his lack of physical tools.
Let me repeat this: Barker has no chance against Martinez on October 1st, and you can expect a huge mismatch with Martinez toying with Barker before he finally puts him out of his misery in the 1st or 2nd round.
Comments are closed.