Looks like our very own Darren Barker could be facing Martinez on October 1st

[Rantcatrat]

This fight is just a stay-busy fight. I don't see what this fight does. Barker doesn't have a belt so this isn't an unification. Does he have a big following in the UK? Who has a bigger following Macklin or Barker? I think Geale made the most sense personally as Sergio's next opponent if Sturm isn't available.

Will someone drop some knowledge on me? Is the money that much better if you are fighting on HBO stateside than if you are fighting in Germany against Sturm or in Australia against Geale or in the UK against Barker?

[Dropanuke]

Barkers only chance is to box and not pressure, hit and run. Daz has a good reach and give him credit for an ambitious task!
He can do it tho as he isn't dumb like Paul Williams

[FinitoElDinamita]

This fight is just a stay-busy fight.

Will someone drop some knowledge on me? Is the money that much better if you are fighting on HBO stateside than if you are fighting in Germany against Sturm or in Australia against Geale or in the UK against Barker?

I dont think so. Purse is better fighting in Europe but it comes with a price like having to worry about robberies/jet lag/ hometown disadvantage etc...

But HBO is the world stage so fighters get better exposure and they dont have to worry about hometown cooking as much..

I dont mind a Barker fight. Id rather watch him than Chavez Jr.. Barker aint so bad.

[Kev]

This will be brutal. Barker will get beaten down in a manner of unspeakable proportions if it happens. You don't struggle with the likes of Domenico Spada & Affif Belghecham & then beat one of best fighters in the world. If he does, this would imo be among the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, certainly by a Brit. The only one that would compare imo is Randy Turpin over Ray Robinson & that's only because of just how brilliant Sugar Ray was.

I can't believe people are comparing Sergio Martinez to Ray Robinson

It wouldn't be as big a win as that.

Honeyghan's win over Don Curry and Kirkland Laing's win over Duran are both bigger wins than this would be.

Martinez right now is easily the most overated fighter in the sport.

[Rantcatrat]

This fight is just a stay-busy fight.

Will someone drop some knowledge on me? Is the money that much better if you are fighting on HBO stateside than if you are fighting in Germany against Sturm or in Australia against Geale or in the UK against Barker?

I dont think so. Purse is better fighting in Europe but it comes with a price like having to worry about robberies/jet lag/ hometown disadvantage etc...

But HBO is the world stage so fighters get better exposure and they dont have to worry about hometown cooking as much..

I dont mind a Barker fight. Id rather watch him than Chavez Jr.. Barker aint so bad.

I think this fight isn't horrible either, but it is just a stay busy fight. Is it better than Manfredo? Yes, but not by a ton. If I were Sergio, I'd go on the international circuit if I can't get a ppv fight in the US.

[JazMerkin]

This will be brutal. Barker will get beaten down in a manner of unspeakable proportions if it happens. You don't struggle with the likes of Domenico Spada & Affif Belghecham & then beat one of best fighters in the world. If he does, this would imo be among the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, certainly by a Brit. The only one that would compare imo is Randy Turpin over Ray Robinson & that's only because of just how brilliant Sugar Ray was.

I can't believe people are comparing Sergio Martinez to Ray Robinson

It wouldn't be as big a win as that.

Honeyghan's win over Don Curry and Kirkland Laing's win over Duran are both bigger wins than this would be.

Martinez right now is easily the most overated fighter in the sport.

Fuck's sake

In no way do I think Martinez is near Robinson, I think the gulf in class between him & Barker is equivalent to that between Turpin & Robinson. I consider Turpin quite some way better than Martinez so in no way is he compared to Robinson.

That said I'd consider this a bigger upset than Honeyghan. He'd convincingly beaten everyone in front of him & much better opp on the domestic & European scene. I believe he was ranked in the top 5 ww's in the world.

Laing is a decent shout, Duran was coming off a loss, but you'd have to think he was a similar heavy favourite. I overlooked that one.

I know you think Martinez is overrated, so do I to a point, but he's so much better than Barker.

[Kev]

This will be brutal. Barker will get beaten down in a manner of unspeakable proportions if it happens. You don't struggle with the likes of Domenico Spada & Affif Belghecham & then beat one of best fighters in the world. If he does, this would imo be among the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, certainly by a Brit. The only one that would compare imo is Randy Turpin over Ray Robinson & that's only because of just how brilliant Sugar Ray was.

I can't believe people are comparing Sergio Martinez to Ray Robinson

It wouldn't be as big a win as that.

Honeyghan's win over Don Curry and Kirkland Laing's win over Duran are both bigger wins than this would be.

Martinez right now is easily the most overated fighter in the sport.

Fuck's sake

In no way do I think Martinez is near Robinson, I think the gulf in class between him & Barker is equivalent to that between Turpin & Robinson. I consider Turpin quite some way better than Martinez so in no way is he compared to Robinson.

That said I'd consider this a bigger upset than Honeyghan. He'd convincingly beaten everyone in front of him & much better opp on the domestic & European scene. I believe he was ranked in the top 5 ww's in the world.

Laing is a decent shout, Duran was coming off a loss, but you'd have to think he was a similar heavy favourite. I overlooked that one.

I know you think Martinez is overrated, so do I to a point, but he's so much better than Barker.

Barker is undefeated, Martinez has lost twice. Martinez is the smaller man. He is by far the older man. Darren is dazzling.

I repeat, he has never lost a fight!

I see this fight going only one way...

[JazMerkin]

Barker is undefeated, Martinez has lost twice. Martinez is the smaller man. He is by far the older man. Darren is dazzling.

I repeat, he has never lost a fight!

I see this fight going only one way...

You're right. I've also overlooked his stunning first-round KOs of Paul Samuels & Ojay Abrahams. Martinez doesn't make out of the 2nd.

[boxingbantz]

According to the pair of them on twitter, the fight is on. Sergio is, literally, just walking into HBO with Lou DiBella to confirm it (picture posted).

RIP Darren Barker.

[MMASUX]

Yea looks like a done deal. From what they are saying no one else wanted to fight Sergio.

DiBella said he offered the fight to titleholders Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Daniel Geale as well as junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto, Andy Lee and Paul Williams for a rubber match.

Middleweight champ Sergio Martinez set to fight England's Darren Barker - ESPN

[TigerFan]

Barker should have fought Chavez Jr. Unless Top Rank settled on Manfredo Jr. Even then, he still should have avoided Martinez.

[boxingbantz]

Regardless of how poor he was in his first defence, he should've been put in there with Pirog.

[Rantcatrat]

Regardless of how poor he was in his first defence, he should've been put in there with Pirog.

I believe he should have been put in there with Sturm or Geale. They are both more established middleweights. Pirog really hasn't earned the Martinez fight, but more importantly, he isn't the biggest challenge at middleweight. Frankly, It's just we don't know enough about him to assess. Certainly, he looked great against Danny Jacobs, but then rather flat against Marcal. Right now, of the belt-holders, Sturm is the biggest challenge. From what I gather, the WBA has promised Martinez a fight for the belt against the winner of Manfredo/Chavez Jr. I bet Chavez Jr. vacates before fighting Martinez. Hopefully, the next fight after Barker has will be against Sturm.

[badr_hari]

Regardless of how poor he was in his first defence, he should've been put in there with Pirog.

I believe he should have been put in there with Sturm or Geale. They are both more established middleweights. Pirog really hasn't earned the Martinez fight, but more importantly, he isn't the biggest challenge at middleweight. Frankly, It's just we don't know enough about him to assess. Certainly, he looked great against Danny Jacobs, but then rather flat against Marcal. Right now, of the belt-holders, Sturm is the biggest challenge. From what I gather, the WBA has promised Martinez a fight for the belt against the winner of Manfredo/Chavez Jr. I bet Chavez Jr. vacates before fighting Martinez. Hopefully, the next fight after Barker has will be against Sturm.

And Barker earned it, RIGHT?
Pirog's Promoter: 9 Months We've Tried To Get Martinez - Boxing News
Martinez wants no part of Pirog, Sturm or the lion Golovkin. And i don't even want to hear HOW superior he is to them, i want PROVES, i don't give a shit if you think Martinez knocks them out in the first round, i just want to see him finally box a top 5 middleweight.

[Rantcatrat]

Regardless of how poor he was in his first defence, he should've been put in there with Pirog.

I believe he should have been put in there with Sturm or Geale. They are both more established middleweights. Pirog really hasn't earned the Martinez fight, but more importantly, he isn't the biggest challenge at middleweight. Frankly, It's just we don't know enough about him to assess. Certainly, he looked great against Danny Jacobs, but then rather flat against Marcal. Right now, of the belt-holders, Sturm is the biggest challenge. From what I gather, the WBA has promised Martinez a fight for the belt against the winner of Manfredo/Chavez Jr. I bet Chavez Jr. vacates before fighting Martinez. Hopefully, the next fight after Barker has will be against Sturm.

And Barker earned it, RIGHT?
Pirog's Promoter: 9 Months We've Tried To Get Martinez - Boxing News
Martinez wants no part of Pirog, Sturm or the lion Golovkin. And i don't even want to hear HOW superior he is to them, i want PROVES, i don't give a shit if you think Martinez knocks them out in the first round, i just want to see him finally box a top 5 middleweight.

Barker definitely did NOT earn it. No way. It's a stay busy fight until a more lucrative fight becomes available. Is that proper form for a top 5 p4p? No. I mean there's no way you argue that one. But, don't get carried away either, he has already beat the consensus #1 middleweight in the world and he went to his town to do it.

Why would Martinez want no part of Pirog or Sturm? Explain that to me. Recall that he faced Paul Williams when no one would face Paul Williams and he faced Kelly Pavlik when Kelly had only lost once and was the lineal middleweight champion. Sure, with 20/20 hindsight you can say Williams was limited and Pavlik was a alcoholic, but at the time they were considered very dangerous.

Please be consistent if you are to give Martinez a hard time for facing Darren Barker. Pirog was on top of the world after his dramatic upset KO of Danny Jacobs. He was the buzz of the town. How did the Russian use that new-found attention? He fought an Argentinian journeyman that no one had ever heard of in his hometown of Russia. Moreover, he looked flat doing it.

Let's go to Sturm too since we are on the subject because his situation is very similar to Pirog's current situation. Sturm comes off a great showing on HBO where he basically beat a close-to-prime ODLH. In my opinion, he did beat him. What does he do? Does he take on all-comers? During his title reign, Sturm missed fights with a huge number of legit champions - Jermain Taylor, Kelly Pavlik, Arthur Abraham, Bernard Hopkins etc. Sturm blamed his complacency on Universum. Get out of your deal with Universum so you can fight better opponents. Well, he got out of his deal with Universum, and who does he fight? Ronald Hearns.

Now I agree Martinez deserves a higher level of scrutiny because he's considered the "man" in his division. We should expect more from him. Given his recent run, as a fan of his, I'm willing to give him one pass. He beats Barker and then he should face a real challenge, which in my opinion should be Felix Sturm.