Fully agree with you here IB. Am pretty shocked that some of the posters had it a shutout or very close too it. IMO it was a definition of an even fight after the first 8 or so rounds.
And that's the issue for me. Yes he was making Martinez look crap but he wasn't doing enough to really punish him for it. I think it's an example of someone doing better than expected. He just wasn't punching enough most rounds. You also need to factor in that, as the rounds progressed Martinez did adjust and started landing shots to the body and looping his punches around the guard. Barker had the right idea, but he didn't implement the gameplan effectively. To have done so would have given Martinez more opportunities to counter and land than he did. So basically, there was one guy actually fighting and another one being wholly tactical without commitment to attacking. To give him more than three rounds (I could only make a clear argument for one) is just giving him the benefit of every doubt.
Yeah he must of been watching this fight through tinted windows. I did have martinez up by 2 at the stoppage.
Thought Martinez was 6-4 up by the ko. HBO's scoring was a disgrace but then these are the idiots who had Alexander beating Kotelnik easily. Barker's problem was that he was a little too cautious and didn't seem to posses the power to really trouble SM. His high guard and accurate lefts and rights gave the champ fits early on. Oh and Gary Barlow should go back to all those pies he used to eat and hopefully choke on them. That or Jason Orange's ****.
What an embarrassing post. If you were watching the fight carefully you will have seen Barker taking more and more shots as the fight neared it's conclusion. He was rocked and hurt on more than one occasion. He was also clearly fatigued. The shot that put him down was the straw that broke the camel's back. He was clearly hurt and unable to carry on. I'm sure you would have lasted that long in there and that last punch wouldn't have bothered you at all, right?
The fact that WalletChecker is 100% gay for Sergio is the answer to the questions that you haven't asked. I gave Barker 3 rounds, but I think there's a case to be made for a plethora of different scorecards - it's just that neither man was really on fire and it could be looked at a bunch of different ways. I think it says all anyone needs to know whe Martinez didn't really look troubled at any point, and didn't even get out of first gear.
WTF barker hardly threw any punches .this is the reason he lasted that long because if he did he woulda got his ass knocked out a lot sooner and some of you inbreeds are saying barker put up a gallant effort like **** he did.no wonder fight fans around the world think uk fighters suck....and you get a fighter like khan blowing opponents away and he gets slated this shits ****ed up.
Each of our recent British contenders for a title have all fallen short and to me al fairly Similar. Hatton,Rhodes Macklin,Barker all are good fighter but when they get in against a wrold class opponet they just dont loook fit or strong enough. Out of the above Hatton actually to me did the best job, had he been the same weight it might have been different. Rhodes was just outclassed, fitter stronger fighter. Macklin, there's an argument for him winning but to be honest he was knackered after he put everything into ther first half, again didnt seem as fit or strong. Barker the same. It seems our boys can can mix it with the best for maybe the first half of a fight but then its all downhill. So, why cant our guys get into as amazing condition as the World champs? is it the trainers? I thought if you trained as hard as each other you should have the same engine and similar strength etc. Ah well, At least Khan's doing it for the Brits. And vefore anyone says anything yes Cleverley is a World champ (Still unproven) Ricky Burns (We'll see when he gets in with Katsidis but he'll probably get nailed in the same way as the above)
With the possible exception of Maklin, all those fighters just wern't good enough when they lost. Nothing to do with strength/ stamina, just beaten by better fighters.
Have to wonder about Barker's stamina IMO. He wasn't pulling the trigger and it's difficult to see why. He was having success when he did and had control of the ring. His workrate didn't start high and he slowed. Martinez wasn't really countering his combos either just single shots which made it stranger.