Once again, styles make fights & Barkley's clumbsy style & physical strength proved a nightmare for some, but easy to deal with for others.. He also had a very intimidating presence, & would always be bigger than his opponent..
All in all I don't think he is overrated amongst fight fans, but only on paper.. He was also particularly well managed & took full advantage of his opportunities in winning 3 titles.. The only problem being, that he was far better at winning titles, than he was defending them.. The 2 victories against Hearns were special though.. They were pretty good versions of Hearns, with Barkley taking a beating for the first 3 rounds of fight 1.. The KO was possibly the hardest single punch Tommy ever got hit with.. In some ways, Hearns lost the second fight, mainly because he was worried about a repeat of the first.. He was a little more apprehensive than usual, & Barkley bullied him towards the end..
Barkley finished his career at heavyweight, & I believe KO'd an old Gerry Coetzee, but I doubt The Blade was too much younger himself.. I'd say in summing up, Barkley had a very good career, was well handled & left the game with all his faculties.. In fact, he's a very intelligent & likable chap out of the ring... He's not an ATG though, more of an upset king with a very good resume.. Who knows?... He may have upset Hagler or Leonard if they'd fought.. One things for sure though, everyone in boxing respects him..
Good post sir. Barkley was a menacing presence and was generally always the bigger, stronger man in the ring. He really was a guy who overachieved when he was thought to be out of a fight and underachieved when he was more of a favorite.
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