Anyone else think Barker can win this?

I try and look at British fighters sensibly, though I`m often clouded by amateur careers.
There`s no really significant reason why I should think that Barker can beat Martinez, BUT:

Barker is naturally bigger (not necessarily a huge argument)

He seems to work on every aspect of his game, which suggests there is a respect for the sport that should help his team look for and exploit any weaknesses that they spot in Martinez

Martinez`s age doesn`t often get mentioned, but I suspect this is just because he`s become a star late. there aren`t too many great 36 year olds knocking around.

A feeling that fighters who are underrated can suddenly get very overrated when people realise that they were that decent (my favourite example is how Larry Holmes went from barely acknowledged to a virtual consensus top 3 heavy of all time, which he simply, simply (x 1,000) is not).


Maybe I just like Barker`s attitude and i`m clouded by that. I just think he`s at least going to put in a great performance and on top of that think he has a chance. As someone wrote elsewhere, he`s not lockett - he probably hadn`t earned the title fight but he would have got there sooner or later.

 

When I look at this fight, that`s what I think I should think. not often I get a gut feeling that something else will happen - certainly it rarely actually pans out (Usain Bolt false starting in the 100m final - seriously; Benn-McLellan; and Holy-Tyson 1 are the only big event examples I can think of where that gut feeling turned out to be true - and even the last of those was because it seemed pretty clear that Tyson had mentally got to his first opponents after prison).

Dunno why, it`s not like Barker even has the stand-out international am career that usually so sways me. he does try to improve most aspects of his game, that`s the only thing that he has that tends to make me lean towards a fighter.

 

fair enough.

your point, even in its brevity, certainly makes more sense than mine.

 

your first point is certainly fair. on the latter, you are right - but i do think his age is overlooked. it`s more than possible he will start to slip and i do think he is shipping a few more shots as he starts to believe in his power.

 

and that`s why i pointed out that the size issue wasn`t necessarily a huge argument. with most fighters, as long as they are ballpark similar size it doesn`t matter too much at this level, it is just another advantage or disadvantage that has to be accounted for.

 

Again, i normally tend to agree with this (I`m a huge Haye fan because he has two or three absolutely stand-out assets, which he has built on) when it comes to the big fights, but I feel Martinez is the same. He does everything well, little exceptionally (I`m sure people will disagree with me hugely on this, but of the five (maybe more from the distant past, but certainly five) it`s only the one punch ko of Williams that was exceptional). everything else was simply very professional.

the fighters that work on their weaknesses just tend to be that bit smarter in the ring, imo, which i think is what is needed against martinez.

I can`t properly justify my pick, but I do think Barker takes this fight in a close UD/SD. but i fully understand that seeming to be a barmy pick.