Who performed best in defeat to Sergio Martinez: Darren Barker or Matthew Macklin?

Macklin for me . He fought a better version of sergio imo and did better than barker overall as well . I think macklin proved he is truly world class and would beat barker in a barn burner imo.

 

IB I have to say you pretty much called this fight right on point. It went just like you said it would (no manny stewart)

 

Definitely Barker.
Martinez looked confused and he didn't really know what to do.
Against Macklin Martinez took his time and broke him down.
Id Pick Barker over most of the Middleweight right now.

 

i just think martinez was sharper and quicker against macklin ,he wasn't gettin caught with as much cleaner shots either . I really hope macklin and barker get it on .

 

Barker took barely anything until Martinez pressed forward with his body attack and took Darren's legs away from him, up until that point Barker was catching the vast majority of shots on his gloves and arms. I dont buy the sharper and quicker arguement as i just dont think Macklin had sufficent footspeed and skill to stop Martinez dancing around and mugging him with the jab and the odd straight left before darting out the side door as it were. Barker however didnt let Sergio do this which left him feeling fustrated and too far out of range to be effective, he wasnt allowed to circle Barker to the point that Darren was ever off balance or confused, Barkers footwork in this fight was to eliminate as much movement as possible and to keep Sergio slap bang in front of him, this in turn stopped Martinez from getting his punches off from weird angles that were difficult to deal with. Had Barker had sufficent stamina to keep on his toes and move out of the way of the bodyshots he may have just pulled off a shocker. Credit must go to Martinez for realising his gameplan was not working and switching it up to target the body against Barker. In the macklin fight he never needed to switch gameplan, yes Macklin was far better and more stubborn than he anticipated but he was never uncomfortable or distressed, he kept plugging away with those solid jabs and left hands whilst constantly keeping Macklin guessing with his speed of thought and movement. Macklin ultimately became tired and fatigued constantly trying to defend and got taken out in style. It always felt like a formality against Macklin where as against Barker people were sitting up and thinking **** this Barker can actually fight a bit.

 

About the same to me.

 

They are different guys? I guess the second one...Macklin?

 

Barker Macklin anyone?!?!

 

Macklin !!!!

Barker didn't come to fight , more to merely survive and take no chances , when he opened up he got knocked out

Macklin came to win and fell short

There is a difference

 

This solely depends on how you view a fight , and how you score a fight , i agree with some bits on your post here , but ultimately disagree with the content , Barker wasn't winning any rounds , and Martinez was only getting frustrated with Barker because he was awkward to hit !! , and nothing more , as soon as Darren realised I've been in cruise control too long here Martinez KO'd him , Macklin on the other hand was looking to make Martinez work in areas he isn't comfortable , it didn't always work and Martinez worked him out fairly quickly , but .................. at least he was trying to win the fight , Barker was never trying to win the fight !!

 

How many rounds did you give Barker ?? , because i don't remember giving him 1

He basically ran and tucked up for 10 and a half rounds , he wasn't throwing any combinations and barely through a simple and basic 1 - 2 , it was a performance that stunk of survival , at no point did i think Martinez is going to lose this fight

At least Macklin tried to take the fight away from Sergio and fell short , if Macklin wanted to see out the 12 rounds in the fashion Barker did (well nearly ) he could of

Barker is getting too much credit for a fight he was never in