Macklin was never stopping Sturm or didnt even look to be hurting him, yes he threw alot but not hurting, but when Sturm landed on Macklin looked like he was going to take his head off. Always looked bigger/ fitter and stronger
Barkers stamina has been suspect in his last 3 distance fights (the matey that Lee fought that he made much harder for himself, and against Spada as well IIRC and now Sergio)
He was getting hit more often as the fight went on though and they were hurtful shots from Martinez. Whether it was Barker slowing down and then getting hit more often, or getting hit more often and then slowing down I'm not sure. Maybe a combination of the two :huh
But if you don't punch your opponent can target you whenever they decide to initiate an exchange. He wasn't really getting countered after combos, and he wasn't going to win throwing the odd shot. Chance wasted I think, had an opportunity to take charge.
Yes probably but when Sturm did engage you could see who was the boss, same with all the other fights I mentioned.
Yeah but as I said above if you slow it makes it easier for your opponent to tee off when they like. There's a general feeling that by punching he would open himself up but that didn't really happen. His guard stopped shots from doing full damage but it still adds up, and a turtle defence means you can't really see what's coming so everything connects to an extent, and you don't have opportunities for counters. Not saying he was just surviving but considering he was controlling the centre of the ring I'd have liked to see him force the fight a bit more. I don't think his problems came when he 'opened himself up', they were when he was covering up.
What about Hatton? Never really shown suspect stamina or strenght and neither of his loses came down to those issues. Mayweather systemtically broke him down and stopped him and Pac just flattened him. Mackin put too much effort in the first half of the fight probably because he knew he'd have to try and win his rounds clearly. If the fight was outside of Germany he's have had the "luxury" of being able to fight those rounds more conservatively. Rhodes-Alvarez was a 34 year old Euro level fighter against a 21 year old "next big thing". I think its a big leap to draw the conclusion that Brit fighters don't train properly or have poor stength/ stamina from any of those examples TBH. Just my 2p....
I totally agree with this, no point in getting into range or taking centre of the ring to just hold your hands up, especially as he was having success when he did engage. He wasnt fit / strong enough which actually pisses me off cos that's what he said and many other's have, its the moment they have waited for all their life. Right, so get yourself int the best shape you have ever been in...
In fairness Darren won 2, maximum 3 rounds if you are biased. The Sky team got completely carried away. He was at his best when he was a nip tuck amateur fight where they were looking for 1 or 2 shots. As soon as Martinez let his hands go and overcame the bloody nose, Barker was completely out of his depth and losing round after round until the stoppage. In terms of athleticism and physical ability I was suprised that Barker wasn't completely shut out with speed, power and agility. But Martinez had a mental and physical gear that Barker did not have.
The commentators fell into the trap of giving rounds to the underdog because he was doing better than expected.
I'd be very much surprised if he wasn't in the best possible physical shape he could be in. It's just that it still wasn't enough to deal with a fighter like Martinez who is clearly a level above him in every departmant. That's hardly a criticism though. Barker did show he deserved to be fighting at that level and would give any other middleweight 'world champion' a real test.
Yeah, guess it just disappointing. He proved he is good enough to fight at that level maybe not for 12 rounds though.
Yeah maybe, maybe not. He may have lasted 12 rounds if he wasn't getting hit so much near the end. I guess it's hard to say one way or the other. Admittedly he has looked laboured recently over 12 rounds. I know he did 12 rounds when he first won the Commonwealth but I can't remember how he looked over the distance.