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Itʼs often the case that when a fighter goes through the most traumatic period of his life he comes back stronger and better than ever. Barnetʼs likable “Dazzling” Darren Barker is another fighter in that mold.
After taking some time away from the sport to grieve the tragic death of his younger brother Gary, himself a promising young boxer who was killed in a car accident in December 2006, the 25 year old middleweight stylist has returned with more determination than ever before and his performances show it.
This past November, at Bethnal Greenʼs historic York Hall, Barker put in a faultless display against Australiaʼs tough and undefeated Ben “Bazooka” Crampton to claim the vacant 160 pound Commonwealth crown. Crampton had built his resume by taking fourth tier journeymen on Australian club shows but it was still a tough test for the Barnet man and he came through it with flying colours.
Barker had been equally impressive on his previous bout in October (the first since his brotherʼs death) when he showed excellent body punching skills against Greg Barton, dropping the Southend based four round fighter with digging shots to the torso in both the first and second rounds before referee Mark Green stepped in and halted the punishment in the third frame.
Live on Sky Sports tonight, Barker returns to York Hall, the scene of his greatest fighting moment, to make the maiden defence of his title against Coventryʼs former British and European challenger Steve Bendall. The winner will look to face the victor of the upcoming match up between Wayne Elcock and Darren McDermott in what would be an old style British and Commonwealth unification.
Barker, 16-0 (10), was an excellent fighter as an amateur and won a Gold Medal as a light welterweight at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. He is widely regarded as one of Britainʼs best prospects and, as he showed in his title winning bout, he is a crowd pleasing attacker but is not unhurtable and is also not a stranger to the canvas.
Again at York Hall, in July 2006, he was rocked badly and dropped twice by Wolvesʼ unheralded, by still dangerous, Conroy McIntosh. Using his jab, Barker weathered the storm that night and eventually halted McIntosh in the seventh session of a scheduled eight rounder but it still left question marks about the durability of his whiskers.
In his match up with Paul Samuels in late 2006, Barker was caught with a hard right that forced him to touch down with both gloves but, before referee Dave Parris could issue his count, he leapt up and nailed Samuels with a left hook that flattened him. Parris had to make a decision and decided to ignore Barkerʼs touch down, instead counting Samuels out.
34 year old Steve Bendall is not travelling down the M1 to make up the numbers and will hope to expose Barkerʼs vulnerabilities again. He understands that this is likely to be his last opportunity to win a recognised crown and knows that he must bring his A game if he is to prevail.
“Itʼs my last chance to win a major domestic title and Iʼm going to give it everything Iʼve got.” He told his local rag, The Coventry Telegraph recently. “My three defeats have come in my biggest fights and I donʼt want to be remembered as the nearly man.”
Although not as decorated as his younger rival, the tough southpaw was also a decent amateur and represented England as an international before turning pro in 1997. Since then he has shown himself to be an extremely polished operator when he gets his jab going but he does seem to be quite easy to find and, as a result, cuts frequently.
The highest accolade Bendall has picked up in his long career was the English middleweight title which he won when his opponent Donovan Smillie of Bradford was stopped in the fifth due to a bad cut around his right eye. Smillieʼs corner had cause to complain as the Coventry native was also bleeding badly around the eyes and later needed 14 stitches.
His next fight was also a title clash as he was handed a surprise shot at European kingpin Sebastian Sylvester in Germany. In a similar fashion to Peter Manfredoʼs loss to Joe Calzaghe last year, his defeat to Sylvester that night was controversial. Bendall was trapped on the ropes but was blocking and wasnʼt hurt when the referee stepped in and stopped the action.
Bendallʼs last major fight saw him lose his prized English title when Birminghamʼs Wayne Elcock stopped him in the eighth round. Elcock had been able to land right hands at will that night and it seemed that Bendallʼs skills and major title aspirations had slipped away.
Bendall has won his last three outings but against limited opposition.
Verdict: Given that Barker is regarded as one of Britainʼs biggest prospects and the fact that 34 year old Bendall has been stopped on every occasion that heʼs challenged for a major domestic title, it would be easy to think that the Barnet man will have it all his own way but I foresee Bendall having some success, particularly in the early rounds before Barkerʼs excellent work rate and superb body punching take their toll. I predict Barker to win by KO/TKO around the ninth.
