Barker vs Spada RBR

Wasn't Barker one of DeGales main sparring partners along with Cleverly? I reckon that helped him a fair deal.

He tied Spada up with no problem when on the inside which was good to see, against Frenchy he just stood there like a moron and let Frenchy get whatever shots off that he wanted to throw, it was a much better performance from his last fight.

 

atsch

 

Yeah i dunno why he proceeded to wade in from get go against Belghecham. Gotta wonder how much that hip injury affected the lad i mean he couldn't even run so he was relying on gym fitness.

Tonight he was tiring towards end but you could see some signs of real class in there tonight.

Btw yes he did spar Chunky.

 

Spada is more durable than that pair though.

However, one thing that Barker proved is that he has no power.

 

take out Elcock from that comment and he has a point

 

I don't get how Macklin can be favored. He might have the power on tap to be dangerous, but to me its only potential to land the big punch and invariably when thats the case it rarely materializes. The percentages are definitely in barker's favor technically. Landing a huge left hook against that Finnish stiff robot is one thing, but I havn't seen too much else to get excited about.

I don't think Macklin presents too many obstacles except 'potential to land a big left hook out of nowhere'. I'm not looking at Macklin thinking he can do such and such to trouble Barker except for landing a big punch, Macklin is just a brawler at heart thats tried to reform himself as a boxer puncher and isn't overly good at it. That would be the difference. I don't think Macklin walks through Barker and I don't think he can outbox him either, his snap fizzles out after 4 or 5 I've noted which is when Barker is 'Dazzling' so it all works out well for him IMO.

 

fair play barker , that was a good performance i was quite surprised tbh after his last one although spada was fairly one dimensional and didnt offer **** all back really, i thought macklin would win if they fought before tonight but now i think its a genuine 50/50

i stil think lee beats both though.

 

:good

I was thoroughly impressed, considering the 1 year layoff which I think is key when assessing the performance tonight.

I have real faith in Hearn to get Barker the right fights as well, he's making all the right noises and is quite a breath of fresh air in the promoter scene.

 

Lee would be more troubling as he actually has speed and more genuine power whereas I'm under the impression macklin's power is just smoke and mirrors exagerrated by a few questionably chinned opponents in Asikainen and Elcock. Macklin literally only has that left hook too, I don't see his right hand as dangerous.

Lee...you can actually see the snap in his punches so I would favor him slightly. His power is far more live in the fight due to his speed and timing. He has two or three danger shots as well. Thats what I'm trying to say about Macklin's potential to beat Barker, its not that high compared to Lee. It's just one shot, in an otherwise mediocre all-round game.

 

i have read through the last few pages and every irishman thinks macklin wins whereas most english say barker, this place is starting to **** me off bigtime

 

Yep you can see Eddie's enthusiasm for it as well. He seems open about plans for fighters and really sometimes a small but quality stable is better then a stable that is large with different types of quality.

He just concentrating on the main players he's got and that's gonna bring a exciting 12 months and then on.

 

Apart from giving Zbik one tough fight, what has he done to be called better than those two? Spada was as one dimensional as they come against Barker.

 

My worry with Barker is he always seems to lose form late on in the fight. He kept falling in and when you're tired and you do that you can get caught with something from underneath. He makes silly little mistakes like jumping in and out with single lead power shots. That's not something you can always get away with, he was jumping in with a lead left uppercut tonight (almost Naseem Hamed style) but without the athleticism and more importantly it was coming from waaay too far outside. If you're ganna lead with that punch you have to get closer, feint, slip the incoming then bring the shot from the side or underneath. He could easily get timed if he keeps leading with that shot from outside. What happens is your guard is down and your chin is in the air with that type of shot.

Something else i don't like about Barker, he admires is work at times and his shot selection isn't the best. He neglected the jab and body work at times and was trying to be too elaborate when a simple 1, 2 down the pipe was rocking Spada's head back everytime. He's also not that difficult to hit when he's taking breathers. At least in the later rounds he was clinching to take breathers, but during parts of the fight he would just put his guard up and stay infront of Spada just letting Spada tee-off on his guard...I'm not a big fan of that.

The one last big flaw he has is, he leaves his punches out there, especially the right hand. He'll throw a right hand and then just casually leave it out extended, that is a big no, no. It makes him susceptible to counters, especially the left hook.

I think he was dissapointed with himself tonight because he felt like he could get the stoppage, but didn't know how to work for it. He wanted to show his power. I thought there was times in there when Spada looked spent on the ropes, but Darren just couldn't do enough to get him out of there. That's where that post fight interview frustration came from.

 

asikinen is well past his best and is not as good as spada, years back he was:thumbsup

 

Yeah but Spada had a chin and toughness which counts for a lot at this level. Frankly none of Asikainen, Elcock or Spada are great but that makes the difference between an easy stoppage and something a little more extending. Asikainen has no chin.