Ring Magazines Assesment of Darren Barker

is this fight on youtube to watch, can't find it anywhere

 

Darren Barker is such a good advert for boxing with his interviews and professionalism.He gave a valiant display against a decent champion and its great to see him get respect from fans on ESB.

 

I agree, completely.

 

He was so underrated even the MC called his name out wrong!

Called him Baker ffs!

All credit to him he gave Martinez a much tougher fight then most ppl thought he would.

 

What a **** article.

 

It was actually suprising me how well Barker was doing in the early rounds but I think he needed to change his tactic in the later rounds, standing in range with your hands up with a big puncher like Martinez whilst not throwing much back didnt really work too well for him.

 

This summary of the fight is an good example of what's currently wrong with scoring and assessment of most fights. 'Throwing punches' isn't the aim of the game... landing punches is. While Martinez may have been busier he landed next to nothing. Barker was the more accurate for 2/3rds of the fight and while he was eventually caught up with, he fought as good a fight as he could have. I had Martinez up by a couple of rounds when it ended, but the Mexican judge who had it 99-91?? What fight was he watching? All Barker lacked was the stamina and top-level punching power that would have made Martinez think twice about pushing forward as much in the last few rounds.

 

I cringed when that happened.

Anyway, I thought Barker did very well considering he was the designated away fighter and up against an elite level oppodent. Most people on here didn't give him a prayer, so it was nice that he gave Martinez a few headaches in there.

 

The moment i saw blood and the look on Sergios face it reminded me of saying how he feels invincible.
Sergio is at his best but he probably got there too late. He might have been even better.

 

sky bet had barker 7-1, martinez 16-1

 

terrible article, acting like he is clottey or something while he made it very difficult for sergio.
I didnt like how they threat(ed) barker

 

Barker deserves credit for trying and doing a good job. But at the end of the day there is no way he could have won that fight without throwing more punches. He wasn't the aggressor in the fight or controlling the action for the most part, so that's 2/3 of what most judges look for, then was he landing the harder, cleaner shots? Probably not overall since he ended up knocked out. I had Barker winning a few early rounds, but from six or seven on he was out hussled completely. I thought HBO was fair in most of their assessment, Steward seemed impressed with the kid and I think he can be competitive in the division still, but he wasn't ready for that fight yet, but kudos to him for calling Sergio out and making it happen and doing a fine job against a veteran tough opponent.