I pretty much see it this way as well. Tito - IMO - is far more skilled and polished than Barkley, but when he moved up to 160 back in the day, I had nothing but trepidations on this. I felt 154 was pushing the envelope for him. He did not possess a 160 frame and I too feel Barkley would just power his way through in about 5 rounds.
Agree mate. Barkley was such an heavy-handed guy, he kod Hearns and had Duran spinning full circle in one round. I don't believe Trinidad has the chin to soak up his punches and come back.
I see. To me, Tito's superior punching technique is the difference. Iran has a tendancy to swing wildly in those slugfests. I see Tito coming straight up the middle and he is faster too. Iran is a live dog though. Would be a fun match up
Middleweight Trinidad might just be the most overrated fighter ever. Hopkins somehow gets about half his reputation from beating him. Trinidad barely fought at 160 and in half of his fights there he looked dreadful. Barkley beats him.
Trinidad should take home a points win here, a hard hitting close competitive fight. But my money would be on Tito....but I am not a gambling man so it does not really matter lol
I"m actually surprised so many are picking Tito. Both at their best, Barkley is simply too big and has a good enough chin to weather the early storm. Tito doesn't have more power than Hearns at the weight, and he couldn't finish the job. Duran, who still had plenty of pop, unloaded a vicious combo to put him down, and plenty of hard shots prior, and still couldn't put him away. Benn, who CERTAINLY has more power than Tito, and even hit Barkley late, couldn't put him away. I think Barkley could've continued. I see Barkley being stunned, and even hurt maybe, but his bodywork early (like against Duran) will pay dividends, and he'll walk through and flatten Tito with a bomb at some point.
stylistically it is not a great fight for Trinidad. Benn's left hook and punches were fast probably faster than Tito's in my mind.. Barkley did well against punchers at times because they left themselves open to his counters.
Awful stylistic matchup for Trinidad just like it was for Hearns in 1988. Same result , Trinidad will have success early and eventually get caught and bombed out by Iran. Barkley was too big , strong and durable for a lanky true 147 pounder. Roberto Duran is an Anomaly and he barely scraped by Barkley in a close War.
Is Trinidad's chin and durability being a little underrated? He could certainly be hurt but one thing he did better than most fighters was recover. Even times he was knocked down he stopped his opponent that same round. His conditioning was usually top notch which allowed him to carry his power the distance. Barkley certainly is capable of stopping anyone he can nail clean. I would have liked to see this fight.
Barkley late after being down on the cards. Tito isn't durable enough for Barkley. Juggernaut overtakes skill here.