Darren Barker isn?t well known outside of the UK but the 29-year-old middleweight is more capable than odds makers have made him out to be going into his title challenge against RING champ Sergio Martinez on Saturday.
Barker (23-0, 14 knockouts) brings more than just a nice record to the big dance. The native of London, England, is a smart, 6-foot boxer who utilizes his height well with solid technique, smart footwork and good timing.
Barker is young, hungry and undefeated, the kind of opponent Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KOs) says he enjoys fighting. However, the middleweight champ?s HBO-televised title defense from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N. J., is not the caliber of fight he wants at this stage of his career.
Martinez, the 2010 Fighter of the Year, wants a fight worthy of his elite status in the sport. His main targets are the only two fighters rated above him in both THE RING and Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
Unfortunately for Martinez, both future hall of famers fight two divisions below him in the 147-pound weight class and neither seem interested in leaving welterweight to test their mettle against a fighter as talented as the 160-pound champ.
However, Martinez has made it very public that he?s willing to come down in weight — way down — in order to make those two dream fights happen.
?I?ll go back down to junior middleweight to get a fight with Mayweather or Pacquiao,? the former WBC 154-pound titleholder told RingTV.com through gym mate Roger Romo after his final workout in Oxnard, Calif., last Saturday.
?I can still make the weight. I?m not sure if I can comfortably make it, but that?s a sacrifice I?m willing to make for these fights to happen.
?I know it will be impossible for these fights to happen if I don?t go down in weight. They won?t come up in weight to fight me, which I understand. I respect that they are smaller fighters. That?s why I?m willing to go all the way down 150 pounds to make these great fights for the fans and for me, it?s my biggest wish.?
Martinez vs. Mayweather, Pacquiao or another veteran star, such as WBA 154-pound titleholder Miguel Cotto, is also the wish of the middleweight champ?s promoter, Lou DiBella.
