Boxing News Boxing News
Hennessy Sports are pleased to announce that unbeaten Barnet slickster Dazzling Darren Barker will be looking to add the prestigious European Middleweight belt to his British and Commonwealth titles on Friday 9th April at the Alexandra Palace in London which will be shown live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 10pm.
The promotional co-feature with Matchroom Sports will also see Audley Harrison take on Michael Sprott for the vacant European Heavyweight title after Albert Sosnowski relinquished his title to challenge for the WBC World Heavyweight title against Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko.
Barker, a former commonwealth games gold medal winner, is relishing the chance to fight for the European title, but believes it was always his destiny to one day add this belt to his collection.
“I was always going to be European champion at some point, but with Mathew Macklin vacating the belt due to injury, it’s afforded me the opportunity sooner rather than later”, said the unbeaten Barnet man whose record stands at an impressive 21-0 (14).
In the opposite corner on the night will be Frenchman Affif Belghecham whose last outing was against Irishman Andy Lee back in November. The former EU and current French Champion took Lee to points in a hard fought 10 rounder, giving Lee a few hairy moments in the 10th and final round but the referee handed the victory to the Irishman.
Mick Hennessy was delighted to be able to give Barker this title opportunity and believes that he has got what it takes to reach the very top.
“Darren Barker is a brilliant talent and a consummate professional. In Tony Sims he has an excellent trainer and together I believe they can go all the way to genuine World title glory,” said Hennessy emphatically.
“It’s no secret that the UKs leading middleweights want no part of him and very rarely mention his name. They all realise he is the complete package”.
Tickets for the show at Alexandra Palace are on sale from the Seetickets box office on 0871 230 7148 or via www.seetickets.com, tickets are priced at £30 for unreserved seating and £60 for ringside.
