Unbelievable? Early in his career... Wilford Scypion James Kinchen (37-1) Scrapes past Sanderline Williams with a SD. No shame in that, as Sanderline is a nightmare of a journeyman who Nigel Benn would also only get a SD against and later take James Toney to a draw. Surprisingly not beaten to death after his three rounds against Hearn's, he not only survives but pulls out a KO against the Hitman. He'd beat Hearn's at two seperate weights proving it wasn't a fluke. Against a motivated hell-bent Roberto Duran, he brings Hands of Stone to a SD in a fight some feel Barkley won. Against a peak Nunn, he brings him to a MD. Moving up to super middleweight he absolutely destroys Darrin Van Horn (47-2) one of the most underrated super middles ever. The only time Horn was ever stopped. Not to mention him moving up to heavyweight at the very end of his career, putting together a nine fight winning streak, including a 10th round TKO stoppage over Gerrie Coatzee. He basically proved himself a world class fighter from middleweight to heavyweight, capable of nearly beating the best in the world consistently and even upsetting them at times.
He didn't nearly beat either Nigel Benn or James Toney,but as you stated he fought some other decent opposition and gave them good tussles. He got off the floor to KO Olajide,and also met Kalambay,Maske and Aldopho Washington before he began his slide into trial horse status. Not a great fighter by any stretch but a thoroughly decent one.
I remember some 25 years ago, I saw Iran Barkley lose to Robbie Sims ( Marvin Hagler's half brother. ) I was around 9 years old, and It was both the first time I had ever seen Barkley, as well as probably the first fight I ever saw on ESPN. Ironically, Robbie Sims despite all the big names he had fought over his lengthy career, never became a world champion, whereas Iran Barkley did. I didn't remember what their records were at the time, but after checking boxrec, Barkley had but 8 fights by this point, while Sims had already fought in something like 22. I saw a replay of the fight around 1990-91, and that was one hell of a shot sims decked him with. Barkley was out........ Over the years, I saw Iran's career unfold. His wins over Hearns, Kinchen and Scypion were good ones. He also gave galant efforts against Roberto Duran and Michael Nunn, whom he made look like **** to the extent that Bob Arum said immediately after the fight " Michael Nunn did not beat Iran Barkley tonight. " I would later witness Barkley destroy a journeyman named Robert Folley in 1992. Barkley was scheduled to face James Toney, pending the result. After a most devastating performance, he grabbed the microphone and said " I'm gonna kill you James Toney!!" Not long after, I was at a huge party, where the parents were out of town. People were boozing and getting stoned everywhere. I myself was pretty drunk, and managed to catch a bunch of guys huddled around a tv set, where James Toney was pounding the livin' crap out of Barkley ( so much for backing up your words ). It was a rather pathetic sight to say the least. I also lost money on Barkley when he fought Nigel Benn at one point. From then on, I don't think I cought anymore of Barkley's fights. He sort of faded out of the picture, or at least for me. His career was a roller coaster if you will. A life of boxing that had many ups and downs, both in the ring and out. If nothing else, I truly enjoyed his crude, yet heroic style. He was a real crowd pleaser.. Iran Barkley doesn't quite cut the mustard to make the status of all time great in my book, but he was certainly a much better fighter than his record might reflect to those who never saw the blade in action.
i have that on video, barkley gets up but the fight is waved off by the refferee. barkley against simms and benn where both shoot outs. benns especially, as a very see saw fight with benn hurt and hitting barkley when he was down on two occasions.
Just pointing out that there were a couple of glitches on his resume as well. Also it's a bit of a stretch to say Barkley beat world class opposition all the way to heavyweight as Gerrie Coetzee was 42,fat and a good decade removed from being genuinely world class when Iran beat him.
Not unbelievable, but very respectable. Not too many people can say they went tooth and nail with two certified all-time greats, beating one of them twice, and also beating a former heavyweight champion. Oh, and he did very well in a losing effort to the best middleweight in the world at the time, in addition to the fights already mentioned. I think he was very unfortunate against Benn by the way. Benn got away with murder in that fight. Boxing Illustrated were scathing in their comment on how that fight was handled.
Barkley is a relatively underrated fighter.Too often made out to be crap, but he was a dangerous huge, strong middleweight. I thnk at his best he was a bit better than any middle around today.
No Scypion was gone, and was little more than glorified journeyman at his best anyway! Kinchen/Barkley was pick em at the end Williams was a solid fighter, but the very best he fought beat him fairly easily (Graham, Holmes, Tate and Benn). And although Toney drew with him (never seen the fight), Toney was still learning his trade, and beat Williams handily when he had, and was probably on the juice by then. No you are right, he was merely beaten half to death in HearnsI! You cannot spin that, Barkley was there to annihilate the remains of the Hands of Stone that night, he blew it big time. You cannot insult the great Duran like that. He first exposed Nunn as a fraud Van Horn was awful, a total media creation, classic white meat. I am sorry, but I would be pick-em against 1997 Coetzee, he had been shot for 12 years going in, if he had been an animal, he would long since been put out of his misery. Barkley was a world class 160lber and a world class 168lber, a contender at 175. He made the most of his limited abilities and gets far too much kudos for it.
