Hearn looking past Darren Barker’s next fight against Sturm; wants Geale again

By Boxing News - 08/19/2013 - Comments

barker66By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn, the promoter for new IBF middleweight champion Darren Barker (26-1, 16 KO’s), is already looking past Barker’s first title defense coming up against former WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm.

Hearn says he’s interested in matching Barker back up with Daniel Geale (29-2, 15 KO’s), who Barker beat last Saturday night by a 12 round split decision at the Revel Resort, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Hearn says Geale is one of the guys he’d like to match Barker up again. Hearn is also interested in pitting Barker against Matthew Macklin, Martin Murray, Peter Quillin and Gennady Golovkin.

Hearn said to Sky Sports “Felix Sturm is the mandatory…Potentially after that, maybe even bring Geale over for the rematch. People talk about the Macklin fight, the Murray fight, big British fights. Obviously unification fights, Quillin, Golovkin, probably the toughest of all, there are so many options in the division.”

Well, I don’t see Hearn ever matching Barker up with Quillin or Golovkin. That would be like another Nathan Cleverly vs. Sergey Kovalev fight with Barker going down and staying down. Heck, Barker almost got knocked out by the light hitting Geale last Saturday night.

I was really surprised when Barker got up and Geale didn’t have the sense enough to realize that he needed to keep throwing body punches to finish Barker off. Hearn might mention Quillin and Golovkin’s names in the same breath as Barker, but I see that as good old fashioned name dropping done by Hearn in order to get some boxing fans to believe that Barker is up with those guys in the talent department, when it’s pretty clear that Barker isn’t even close to being as good as those guys.

If Barker can beat Sturm in his next fight, and that’s a big if, we’re going to see Barker up against one of the following opponents: Geale, Macklin or Murray in that order.

I believe Geale is the most likely option because he doesn’t have any power, and he’s probably seen as a safe option for Barker by Hearn. If they’re unable to make that fight, then it’s going to be Macklin. Murray would be the choice of last resort because he has a difficult style due to the way he covers up most of the time.

I really don’t see Barker holding onto his IBF title for long unless Hearn skillfully matches Barker. As soon as Hearn makes a mistake in his match-making for Barker by putting him in with a good middleweight, I see Barker getting knocked out.

Barker beat arguably the weakest of the middleweight champions in Geale. Had that been the other 160 lb. champions Golovkin, Sergio Martinez or Quillin last Saturday night, I think Barker would have been knocked out by all three of them. You can make a strong argument that Barker is the weak link among the four middleweight champions.



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