By Scott Gilfoid: It doesn’t get any easier than this for WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) in his first defense of the recently created Diamond trinket against Britain’s Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KO’s) on October 1st at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This is another cannon fodder opponent for Martinez, only it’s a couple steps down from the guys that Martinez has been pounding on recently. Barker is stiff, slow and doesn’t have the same qualities that the likes of Paul Williams, Kelly Pavlik, and Sergiy Dzinziruk brought to the table in their fights against Martinez.

Barker is one of those guys that has simply hung around so long that he’s finally been pushed up the rankings to the number #3 spot by the WBC. This isn’t for the main World Boxing Council belt unfortunately. That title is currently held by WBC paper champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. However, boxing has a way of self correcting, as pretty much no one sees Chavez Jr. as the real WBC champion.

Instead, Martinez is still considered the guy, which makes Barker a lucky person just to have the honor of facing him on October 1st. But it’s too bad Barker won’t last long. It’s going to be hard, short and painful for Barker. I guess the best he can hope for is he gets put out of his misery quickly so he doesn’t have to suffer too long with Martinez unloading one sledgehammer left hand after another with Barker’s face slowly changing shape with each huge punch.