Originally posted by slicksouthpaw16
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Barkley also fought a lot of guys with great hand and foot speed and the only guy he couldn't catch much was a prime Sumbu Kalumbay who was a very, very different fighter than Sexy Serge and was much harder to catch inside or outside.
The way to beat Barkley was not moving and fighting on the outside. It was to stay inside his power and come straight up the middle with short shots. If you fought him on the outside it always ended up with him catching you because I think his skill and speed was much better than most thought. He actually had a very good jab and combinations and short, sneaky power punches and was a much better boxer than people give him credit for. Obviously he didn't use them all the time but they were there.
It wasn't like he was a Pavlik slow, plodding type. He was pretty bloody quick himself for a big power puncher.
Anyway, I see it being a slow fight to start with then becoming a real fight in the middle rounds as the power and pressure start to catch up with Martinez and he slow down and starts trading more. Then I see him getting knocked down and then out.
The Nunn fight is too different than how Martinez fights; Nunn was a freak defensively and one of the most difficult guys to hit of the past few decades. Barkley still gave him more trouble than most guys did. Nunn was also one of the tallest middleweights I've ever seen and used his height well. Martinez isn't hard to catch and would be smaller than Barkley. He gets lazy and always does this thing that when he has his hands down, he will only bring his right hand up and turn his head toward his right shoulder when the opponent gets in close, which is a recipe for disaster against that sneaky short left hook of Barkley's that caught so many unawares.
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