Is there going to be something ?dazzling? about Darren Barker, who is about to challenge Sergio Martinez for the middleweight championship of the world on Saturday night?
Well, Martinez IS 36 years old, which may be about the best thing we can say for Barker?s chances.
That is, if you consider Martinez one of the more dangerous fighters in the world.
The way it looks on paper in terms of a resume, it has been a rare occasion that Barker has been challenged seriously. One of those, at least as it looked on the surface, may have been when he won the Commonwealth middleweight crown with a decision over Ben Crampton, who was 20-0-1 at the time. But when you see that Crampton has not done much since, boxing to a draw against Dondon Sultan (15-11-2) and losing an eight-round decision to Joe Bourke, who sported a 13-17-2 record, that win carries little meaning within the present context.
The first defense was against Steven Bendall, who failed to go the distance against either Scott Dann, Wayne Elcock or Sebastian Sylvester. Danny Butler was in the middle of a three-fight losing streak when he lost to Barker. Domenico Spada is a decent opponent, having twice gone the distance with Sebastian Zbik, but not quite world-class, despite his WBC ranking.
There has been no one notable from overseas (i.e., North America) whom he?s beaten; no one who can be considered one of the world?s top 25 middleweights. Four of his last six opponents are ?retired,? either officially or unofficially, having been inactive for at least a year.
Affif Belghecham is the guy who has extended him the most, and after that a hip injury that caused him to pull out of a fight against Matthew Macklin contributed to a one-year absence from the ring.
Let?s put it this way: if Martinez is looking to milk his title a little bit, there could be a lot of opponents less suited for it. Or so it seems.
This is one of those cases where I really couldn?t fault promoter Lou DiBella, who at least tried to find someone who was a bigger name. There were several people discussed for the fight, at least according to him. A couple of those potential opponents ? Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Daniel Geale ? would have constituted unification fights, I suppose (I?m still not sure what a ?Diamond? title represents).
Whenever you?ve got an undefeated fighter stepping up for the first time, there is the story as it is laid out on paper, and the story the way it looks in an actual ring.
This young man?s story may be better in the flesh.
