Quote Originally Posted by smashup View Post
Barker is your Gary Neville of Boxing ... hard grafter and does he basics well but for me it stops there.
If any fighter deserves a little run of glory its Barker tho.
Comes across a decent fella for a Chelsea fan and is still deeply cut up about his brothers death which was a while ago.

He says that in one fight he was hurt and down on the canvas and had a vision of his brother telling him to get up then went on to win the fight.

Said it a few months ago........

Darren Barker swears he saw his dead brother in the ring 10 days ago in Atlantic City. In the sixth round of his world middleweight title fight, Barker was on the canvas from a brutal body shot, knocked down by opponent Daniel Geale.

“I saw Gary as clear as day. It was vivid, so vivid. He was there. I know it sounds like a movie script, but I saw my brother. He told me to get up.”

Barker made the count – just, at the count of nine – and incredibly went on to win the world IBF middleweight title on points, which he immediately dedicated to his brother, who had died in a car crash on the M1 in 2006. It was raw, and emotional, and the fulfilment of an ambition.
Agreed. But because that ambition is now fulfilled I'm wondering if he's content. After winning it I wouldn't have been stunned if he'd retired because injuries have really done him in. I think Barker is technically better than what you're saying though. Skill wise he blows Macklin out of the water and I think he is a better skilled fighter than all of our Middleweights. There was a time when I thought Barker could go on to be a really top middleweight but the loss of his brother took alot out of him and I think he's wrestled with thoughts of retirement ever since that happened. I think it knocked a bit of the killer instinct out of him.