Barker/Martinez Confirmed. Does Darren have a chance?

No, he doesn't.

 

Matchroom are getting fights for that their fighters simply don't deserve. Good on them.

 

I think Greb just pretended to drink to get his opponents overconfident.

 

Martinez is not unbeatable. I think Martinez will win with Barker giving a good account of himself. But I think a prime Pavlik, Jermain Taylor or Bernard Hopkins faced him they would win quite easialy.

 

What gave you that idea, even a prime Hopkins would be given quite a bit of trouble by Martinez?

 

But how :think

 

I disagree.

 

He'd smash both Taylor and Pavlik to pieces! The way he countered the Pavlik jab in that 9th round was a thing of beauty.

I think Hopkins would work him out and beat him, eventually, but it would be a very tight decision and its not something Hopkins would wanna do again. He would have massive problems with his movement.

 

he faced a **** version of pavlik and it was a closish fight and he got knocked down????

watch the first 8 rounds of that fight. if you think Martinez is unbeatable your crazy.

 

How good do actually think Pavlik and Taylor were during their primes to say that they would beat him easily? Pavlik was goign through personel problems but that doesnt mean a fully fit and focused Pavlik could beat Martinez. Martinez just has the kind of style that would give Pavlik trouble. Skilled and fast boxers will always cause Pavlik problems. And Pavlik is not defensice genius, hes fairly easy to hit and fairly slow. His plodding one-two style is made for a good quick counter puncher like Martinez. He would very well have lost to Martinez even at his best.

As for Taylor, how good do you actually think he was in his prime? I think the two wins over Hopkins actually took something out of him. he failed to impress against Ouma, Spinks and Wright during his reign as champion. Also his career was plagued by stamina problems in the late rounds. I think theres a good posssibility of Martinez outboxing him, provided he can keep Taylor from landing too many big punches against him. And I think Martinez has the defence to do that, provided he stuck to a gamplan.

Hopkins is the only one of the three I would pick against Martinez, but I think Martinez attributes could cause Hopkins trouble still.

 

Pavlik had a good middle rounds surge, but Martinez dominated the early and late rounds. Martinez wasnt even particularly hurt by the knock down imo.

 

No chance. None

 

Pavlik did pretty well against Martinez I thought. For a guy that had better days. He was pretty competitive for long periods and took his fair share of rounds. A lot better than he did against Hopkins thats for sure. Hopkins would have had far too much for Martinez at any point, particularly during his actual prime where he was more aggressive similar to his recent performance against Pascal.

 

I dont doubt that Hopkins would beat him in his prime. But the style of Martinez is one that could give Hopkins trouble imo. During his prime Hopkins never really dealt with many fighters like Martinez. I think Martinez unorthodox style, counter punching and quickness cause him problems.

 

Hopkins owns southpaws though...worth considering. His right hand is pretty hard to take away for a leftie.