His claim to fame was beating Hearns. That is what he is known for. If you eliminate the Hearns fights then he lost to most of the other top guys he fought. He won 3 titles but two against Hearns, who he obviously had a great style matchup against since Hearns beat about 10 guys who were clearly better than Barkley in his career. I would call him HOF but not ATG.
Tough *******,fought everyone,Kalambay,Hearns,Duran,Nunn,Benn,Toney.. Never an easy night for anybody..,good wins over Hearns..
Always fought like a true warrior and came to fight. His fights with Hearns, Duran, Benn & Toney were great to watch. Tried to intimidate every opponent & scared the life out of Van Horn before the bell even sounded, before taking him out in 2 rds. Definately done enough for HOF but no further. Still not a bad effort from a fellow from the Bronx that learnt how to fight from his sister. What could she have become?
Barkley's no ATG. He made his name from upsetting Hearns, and Hearns was beating the crap out of him till Barkley caught him by surprise. Barkley was a very exciting fighter in a lot of tough brawls, he had heart, strength, and when at his best he had better skills than he was given credit for, (for example even though he lost the bout with Duran, he showed pretty good skills in that bout) but he's far from an ATG. Hell of a tough guy though.
I met him and james toney when i was little...they came to see the golden gloves at the elks lodge in queens.. they signed me and my pops ticket... i had no clue who they were...my father just sent me out to them while they were standing by the ring james tony (who forgot the s in his first name's autograph) was rocking all brown leather. the pants to the suit jacket...he looked sharp....he was a bunch thinner then. my father did not like james toney...he was more happy that i got iran barkleys autograph.... i still got those relics.
He deserves the induction from the voters into the IBHOF! The hell is holding that up? Iran Barkley did finish his career ugly, but, he did win "3" world titles for Christ sake....... thumbsup MR.BILL
Those are great autographs. I like Iran Barkley. I just never thought his skills were ATG level. He seems like a really nice person. He lost too much to the top guys he fought. He did beat Hearns but Hearns was dominating and would have had a knockout by bodypunches had Tommy not been careless. Iran was leaning over ready to go and Steele was thinking about stopping it, and Iran pulls out a great punch. Barkley is HOF but not ATG.
I wonder if he was on good terms with toney then.. they seemed to be like pals hearns and a war with duran... thats ****ing props.. i gotta download these from the spiggity spot
I always keep it on ESPN Classic when one of his fights is on. That is about the best compliment you can give a fighter. Regardless of skills or record, does he get you excited to watch a fight? Barkley definitely did.
