Barnes has only lost to bigger men. Harris, while unbeaten has fought nobody. Can Barnes recapture his hunger or is it too late? I'm gonna stick my neck out on this one and say Paddy turns up and outclasses the valley boy. While no Burnett or conlan Paddy should still have a few wins in him. If not he needs to retire.
Harris wins easy for me. Barnes wouldn't even beat the last bloke Harris outpointed for the European belt
I understand why you'd feel that way, scissors. But you've never seen him live up to his potential. That's his own fault of course. Realistically even if he beats Harris, he's unlikely to achieve much at 32 now. Burnett & Conlan etc will fly the flag for Irish boxing going forward though, so it's all good.
This is Barnes last chance, tomorrow, and he's spending the night slagging off Lennox Lewis on twitter. Never learn.
I'm Irish and I followed Barnes in the amateurs but I've not taken to him in the pro ranks at all. Turned over far too late and hasn't given the pro game the respect it deserves. Turned over with a huge ego for some reason and thought the titles would come easily. I knew it wouldn't happen for him after noticing a deterioration towards the end of his amateur career.
I was in the same boat as you, big fan of him in the amateur's and his Commonwealth games performances were something else, but when he got to Rio as favourite it was too much. He thought he would coast it - didn't, then went pro, thought he would coast it - and didn't. I was going to back him tonight too but no way now.