‘Dazzling’ Darren awaits contract for US bout
Sergio Martinez’s October 1st bout with European middleweight champion Darren Barker is still to be finalized according to the Londoner. Barker, 29, was acting as a pundit on Sky Sports’ Saturday fight night last weekend and confirmed that the bout is agreed ‘in principle’ with the Argentinian, although contracts are yet to be exchanged or signed.
The undefeated Brit (23-0, 14 KO’s) faces his toughest test to date against the two-weight world champion if the bout can be agreed as he seeks to gain exposure on American soil and knows that a bout with ‘Maravilla’ win or lose, will make him a household name in the States amongst the boxing fans.
36 year-old Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) is regarded as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and currently holds the coveted Ring Magazine middleweight belt in his possession. The California-based southpaw has been pencilled in to challenge WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. early next year and will want a convincing performance against whoever he faces in October to lead him into his title shot.
Maybe there's still a chance of them replacing him with Pirog, Golovkin or Rubio.
I don't care one way or the other really. Pirog is the only one of the possible opponents I have ever even see fight, and even he is pretty irrelevant. If Sergio dominated him he'd be given no more credit than he received for dominating Sergi in this last outing, a guy who had accomplished much more in his career than Pirog. It's not like we are talking about Sergio ducking killers here. The lineal MW champ of the world shouldn't have to be calling out guys, they should be calling him out. I do agree the best opponent he can probably land is PW if he proves he isn't shot. Cotto's never fighting him, and even with all this bluster about Chavez fighting him I'll believe it when I see it.
hbo turned down martinez/zbik i think, but headlined chavez/zbik for the title...hbo is messed up from time to time. this barker fight is a done deal (signed), martinez's camp has been talking about it already in different interviews....i really wish it wasn't though cause geale is having trouble with his upcoming fight, that would've been great. martinez/geale for the IBF & WBC Diamond belts. martinez needs to really go after those belts next year, time isn't on his side.
I swear I dont understand HBO.. And believe me, this wasnt a rant against Martinez in any way. I just think fair is fair. We fans want the best fights, but Martinez will MURDER this dude, the same way Williams would have MURDERED Ishida. I dont follow their logic of cancelling P-Will but green-lighting this fight.. Mindboggling..
Now, Id like to see Martinez-Geale. I think Martinez can clean out 160lbs division (titleholder-wise). Ironically, the best fight available for him really may be Williams III; P-Will seems like the only guy willing to get in the ring and get it on with him...
This is a bull**** fight if ive ever seen one, and HBO is full of **** for showing it...
Amazing how they turn down Williams-Ishida for not being "challenging" but turn around and put on this garbage ass Martinez-Barker fight. If this happens, Paul Williams should never again catch **** for trying to get that Ishida fight. Unacceptable.
hbo turned down martinez/zbik i think, but headlined chavez/zbik for the title...hbo is messed up from time to time. this barker fight is a done deal (signed), martinez's camp has been talking about it already in different interviews....i really wish it wasn't though cause geale is having trouble with his upcoming fight, that would've been great. martinez/geale for the IBF & WBC Diamond belts. martinez needs to really go after those belts next year, time isn't on his side.
This is a bull**** fight if ive ever seen one, and HBO is full of **** for showing it...
Amazing how they turn down Williams-Ishida for not being "challenging" but turn around and put on this garbage ass Martinez-Barker fight. If this happens, Paul Williams should never again catch **** for trying to get that Ishida fight. Unacceptable.
Looks like it's basically done.
Dan Rafael' twitter:
Was told that HBO has approved Darren Barker as the opponent for @maravillabox on Oct. 1. But HBO and @loudibella still haggling over $$.
Middleweight titlist Daniel Geale 1st defense will be Aug 31 in Australia vs. Eromosele Albert, according to Gary Shaw, Geale's US promoter.
I think HBO said they would prefer Geale. At least that would be a unification.
And I'm sure Martinez would prefer him too. But the problem is, Geale wants a hometown defense first
Come come now homey,we hard core fans & Martinez supporters do not post like that.We do not say that he'll beat them anyway so why bother.We expect our fighters to fight the best.Straighten up homey,we keep that $hit gangsta on our end.If Martinez does fight this unheardof,he better handle business the next time out,or he'll be put on blast.We leave that $hit at the door for flomos & pactards to pick up.
I mean who between 154 160 can beat him? I know this guy is a no name but at least HBO is willing to put him on their air, which they apparently won't do with Pirog. I'd like to see him fight Pirog next personally. I feel that whether it's Pirog, Chavez Jr, Vanes, or this no name dude, Martinez would end up beating them all. I would of course like him to fight the toughest challenge out of the bunch though.
According to a Dan Rafeal blog HBO wants Martinez to fight Daniel Geale.
The problem is, Geale wants a hometown defense first. But anytime after October this fight doesn't make sense because Sergio could just fight Chavez instead, which is a bigger fight.
Geale should just do it. Its probably his biggest payday ever, and he'll most likely never ever get a shot at a top 3 p4p fighter ever again.
Who the **** wants to see Rubio? Yes, Lemieux fu.cked up and lost to him(which i think will eventually help Dave's career), but i can't forget the guy for that *****ass performance vs Pavlik. Martinez fought Cintron-Williams-Pavlik-Williams-Dzyna back to back.....Pirog is untested and really didn't look that great in his last fight, a victory over him will be dismissed if Martinez destroys him..... and Golovkin and Sturm can't/won't go to America.....Middleweight is **** outside of that.....don't see how people are hating on Martinez for this fight....
He's chasing a big money fight with JCC jr
Its time to get out of the division when Barker is the best option
You guys do have a point there. Whether it's Rubio or Barker, or even a decent fighter like Geale, they're getting flattened within the first 3 quarters of the fight. I only prefer Rubio because he looks better on paper than Barker. He'd at least make Sergio box. Both are a waste of time, but hey, DiBella seems pretty set on not fighting Pirog for whatever stupid reason...
yeah i know, it's bullshiit. all i want for martinez now is to try and unify the division, hopefully he can do that before his age catches up to him. after the dzinziruk fight, they said they wanted to take an easy fight, so i'm guessing barker is it. if it's not finalized already, which i'm pretty sure it's a done deal cause martinez and his camp have already confirmed they're fighting him, than it'll be finalized soon.
Who the **** wants to see Rubio? Yes, Lemieux fu.cked up and lost to him(which i think will eventually help Dave's career), but i can't forget the guy for that *****ass performance vs Pavlik. Martinez fought Cintron-Williams-Pavlik-Williams-Dzyna back to back.....Pirog is untested and really didn't look that great in his last fight, a victory over him will be dismissed if Martinez destroys him..... and Golovkin and Sturm can't/won't go to America.....Middleweight is **** outside of that.....don't see how people are hating on Martinez for this fight....