Darren Barker Retires

wish people wouldn't do this, especially someone who should know better :good

fans want a cleaner sport, level a lot of deserved criticism at self-indulgent federations, which are at the heart of boxing being so fragmented and open to corruption.

but if that is ever going to move forward, hardcore fans need to drop this pretentious 'world champion' tag for fighters that CLEARLY have never been anything of the like

it confuses casual fans, and they are the ones who end up getting suckered in by a bogus title that actually means something in all other sports, but is absolute bull**** in most cases when applied to boxing

no disrespect to Darren barker at all, but calling him, geale, GGG or sturm a 'world champion' at MW (for example) is bolderdust

the major federations RELY on us recognizing each and every one of their many, many belts. the least we can do is try to keep things in perspective so that others can learn the difference between a paper titlist and a real world champion in this sport

 

Respect and hope he enjoys his retirement!

 

Get off your soapbox your prickless c-nty. I'd suppose you'd have no problem
calling Quillen or Sergio "world champs" though, huh? Quillen, ran to another
network that had no world class middleweights, while sergio ducks everyone
at 160 to fight little and old miguel cotto. Fugg you!

 

I think it is good that Barker retired. His health was not so good...........

 

Never got the hype surrounding Barker, just like Murray and Macklin he didn't even prove himself to be the best in the UK nevermind being able to make a claim to being anywhere near the best in the world, despite the title he picked up.

Seems like a nice man though so good luck to him in his retirement.

 

Barker has one of the most generic looking faces I've ever seen. He is the everyman boxer. Not much of a fan, but I wish him luck with whatever career he wants to pursue.

 

Well done Darren Barker, very good technical boxer who a won a world title. Injuries scuppered your career and stopped you developing further as a pro. All the best in your retirement from fighting and I hope you now find peace in whatever you choose to do. Good luck!

 

not bad jerry mcguire. replace GGG with Sergio and that wouldn't be so much balderdash. he hasn't looked like the best middleweight for quite awhile now and plans to fight old Cotto.

 

Best of luck to him.

 

:rofl:rofl:bbb

 

Good luck to Barker

On the Boxing NEws podcast last night Hearn spelled out how they looked to get him a World Title belt, and a good payday

They all knew he might not have long left in the sport.

The Martinez fight got him some recognition, he nearly quit after injuries following that fight.

Eddie targeted Geale and said they knew Quillan was a tough fight, and Barker would lose to Golovkin.....he said Barker didnt make great money from the Geale fight... but it set him up for a big payday in Germany against Sturm

But Eddie said the left something in the ring against Geale, and the end was nigh


Now he has paid off his mortgage and will live comfortably which is what he wanted, he wasnt bothered about making millions and millions

 

:thumbsup

 

Well, first off, allow me to be the one to break the cycle of fractured quote madness. (until it starts back up once more, as it always does and will forevermore as long as there are internet forums... :verysad)

Second, I think what Lenny was suggesting is that calling Barker top banana of the "Big Three" middleweights from the UK means turning one's back on reality.

:huh That's a bit silly to say, really. For years, there has been ongoing debate as to what order all three ought to rank and there has never been anything near consensus. For me, it was always Barker up top while the rest (early on Macklin, Murray, Lee, McEwan...later Murray, Macklin, Saunders) trailed just a little behind. Even though Murray did better in his tilt with Maravilla, styles make fights (not to mention age, when discussing a 38 year old...Barker fought him just that much fresher than did either Macklin or Murray and that does factor in, even if only a little, not to discredit their performances) and I always thought Barker could have beaten Murray, and Macklin. Many people thought so over the years. Many people also though Macklin would beat the other two, or that Murray would likewise. Many thought it would be a convoluted A>B>C>A scenario. All reasonable, and cases easily made for all viewpoints. I fail to see how espousing one such viewpoint here in retrospect is unrealistic. It didn't just become my view for the sake of eulogizing his career in some exaggerated paean, either - I've maintained pretty consistently over the years that Barker was the British middleweight I saw matching up best overall with both his peers and on the upper crust international scene as even a perfunctory search of my posts with his name as keyword could reveal in seconds.

 

Ok but based on WHICH performances do- did you rate him so highly, Buttsy?
Most of Darren's fights, the vast majority were fairly forgettable. I know he fought negatively against Sergio and did manage to stick around because of that, but that was NOT typical Darren Barker. Have you seen his fight with belghecham? Now THAT was more like typical Darren Barker.
As against that, Macklin for example won both British and European titles by dominant KO performances and really did beat Sturm. (And we all saw what Felix did to Darren)


By the way did you really have Macklin 5 points down going into the last round against Sergio, but have barker level?? Please tell me that's a typo!

I should say also BESt of luck to Darren in retirement!

 

Best of luck to Darren - he did say he'd achieved his goals in the sport in the aftermath of the Sturm fight. I'm sure it wasn't the way he would have chosen to bow out but he's had a respectable career and and was a good fighter, having been in the ring with some of the best in the world.