Proksa has never been offered a fight with Andy Lee!!!

True, they might be more likely to face better opponents. Maybe. I mean none of them have exactly taken the tough route so far, but it could happen.

 

He isnt decent enough to trouble barker or lee. All proksas previous opponents were below british level.
Tyan booth who is below british level hurt him and if he kept up the pressure could of koed him.
Proksa wouldnt be able to deal with lees or barker reach and power or movement.....

 

I dont know much about Proska, so cant really comment on how Lee would do.

I dont know what Rob Palmer is talking about calling Lee a 'hype job'. Again (for the millionth time) supporting a fighter is NOT the same as hype. Nobody I know on this site hype's Lee up to be the best in the division, except for maybe barry big balls but he's a one of a kind. Saying Lee would beat Barker and Sylvester hardly amounts to hype.

Regarding the issue of Lee making more of calling Barker out. Lee has called him out on numerous occassions on radio chows, tv interviews and most recently directly after his last win. He's a respectful guy so he's not gonna go down the Carl Froch road and start disrespecting possible future opponents, not his style.

Regarding where the fight should take place? I think it is logical to have it in Dublin in front of 10000-12000 fans instead of in front of 2000-3000. Obviously Barker is champ so he should get a better cut. Doubt it will happen, I see Barker rejecting a career high payday and ducking Lee in order to keep his record intact.

 

I just don't see Barker as that guy but time will tell.

I knew this thread was gonna turn into Barker vs Lee. lol.

 

Lee was ridiculously hyped until he lost. It took that for people to get any sense of perspective.

 

Didn't steward say he was the new (or white) Tommy Hearns, i don't think that helped Lee at all.

 

He said he'd be an ATG middleweight too. Talk about putting the cart before the horse...

 

Steward loaded a lot of needless pressure on Lee, but every fighter gets needless pressure on them. Before the Vera fight Lee got hyped up big on the general not just by Irish but the americans as well.

Still think he has a lot of talent but seems stuck at a poor level. He needs to step up soon. Like TFFP said Sylvester is an easier target for Lee or Barker at the minute a big test for both is Gevor a fighter who has the style to really put them out of their element.

 

Where are these 10000-12000 fans going to come from. Lee's last fight was in the Universtiy Arena in Limerick which holds 2500. Alexander Palace gets 4000 in for a boxing show. I was at Barkers last fight there and it was 90% full and 90% of there were Barker fans.

Trust me Barker is a big ticket seller.

Also if the fight is in Ireland it will be a saturday which means no British (Sky) TV meaning a loss in earnings. The fight makes most sense in England. And if Lee wants the title he should get himself into mandatory position for it.

 

True but a huge amount of that hype was coming from Americans who hype fighters like crazy only to deem them 'exposed' when things go slightly wrong.

I think the logical venue for a Lee vs Barker fight would be Thomand Park, Limerick, where with a decent undercard, large promotion and cheaply priced tickets they could sell out the majority of the 26,000 venue.
Alternatively The Point(O2 in Dublin) would provide a large sized venue which would likely sell out. From a financial point of view the fight would have to happen in Ireland. What's the point in fighting in front of 1,500 people in London when you can fight in front of 10 times that and earn 10 times more in Ireland. Of course due to being champion and having to travel Barker should earn about 70% of the total purse but there's no doubt where the fight should take place.

Proksa is a good fighter, but he's not a very big Light-Middleweight and is dwarfed by both Barker and Lee. He'd be too small to compete with either man imo and his defensive liabilities mean from a technical point of view he's not ready for either at the moment anyway. Due to the large disparity in height and reach Lee would be all wrong for the young Pole, there's about 6 inches height difference between them and Proksa would be eating a lot of leather just trying to get close to Lee. Barker is technically very sharp, and he'd easily find the gaps in the Pole's defense. Proksa wouldn't make it an easy night for Barker, but I'd be very surprised if Darren couldn't get the upper hand on him.

 

to those that think Barker will duck Lee, please point me to the evidence of Barker ducking anyone previously. His level off opposition, which is as bad as Lee's, is due to the fact Macklin and Elcock pulled out of fights with him.

 

when has andy lee ever done 10,000????

the venue his last 2 fights were in, where he headlines is 2500. Barker did Alley Palley which is 4000. i was there it was all Barker fans.

26,000......please dont talk ****

 

Andy Lee is ranked 8th by the EBU. If he wants the fight with Barker so bad he needs to fight some decent ranked european opponents and become mandatory.

anyway I heard Manny Steward saying Lees next fight would be for a world title on the on the ropes boxing show. same world title shot they have been talking about for 3 years. maybe that will do 26,000

 

y should he more than likely it be on in limerick cuz lee sells way more tickets than barker

 

i agree with you that the 26000 figure is a bit mad, but i do think that Lee can fill the o2 in Dublin (10000) if the fight was for the European title