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

[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.