Iran "The Blade" Barkley

[talip bin osman]

barkley vs paul williams would be an excellent fight...

[JK1700]

I should proberbly watch some more of his fights so that I can judge him better. As of right now I have only seen his fight with Henry Maske. A fight where Henry basically dictated everything and just pounded the hell out of Barkley to the point where he quit on his stool after the 9th round.

[Bright-Eyes]

I should proberbly watch some more of his fights so that I can judge him better. As of right now I have only seen his fight with Henry Maske. A fight where Henry basically dictated everything and just pounded the hell out of Barkley to the point where he quit on his stool after the 9th round.

Pretty well past it at that stage,although I never knew he quit.He took a terrible beating at the hands of Toney and seemed pissed that his corner stopped it.

[Dynamite76]

Damn good fighter, though of all the fighters that were good, and came out of the Bronx, he ranks low.Strong power, and great heart,though.

[hhascup]

I see Iran every month at the Ring 8 meetings in New York. A few years ago he signed to have another bout on the same card as Saoul Mamby. Thank God it never came off.

I also introduced him at many boxing events over the years.

[Steak]

as others said, very tough bastard and hard puncher. lots of heart.

hes underrated in the skill department though. he wasnt flat out a brawler, he actually had a VERY good counter left hook...dropped Hearns with it, stunned Duran with it, it won him a title at 168lbs...I think it was his winning punch in the Kinchen fights too...or maybe the Olajide fights, I cant remember.

Him knocking out a (past prime) former heavyweight titlist was pretty surprising.

[Barn]

Very good fighter who you just have to love(no ****).

[Scott9945]

A real warrior. One of my favorites. The 3rd round of the first Hearns fight may be my ATF round. The fight against Duran was sensational too.

Barkley is a funny guy too. Boxing writer Michael Katz once asked him what he was going to do when he retired. Barkley's response: "I'm going to rob your house". That had everyone laughing. Hopefully he was just joking.

[BennyST]

A real warrior. One of my favorites. The 3rd round of the first Hearns fight may be my ATF round. The fight against Duran was sensational too.

Barkley is a funny guy too. Boxing writer Michael Katz once asked him what he was going to do when he retired. Barkley's response: "I'm going to rob your house". That had everyone laughing. Hopefully he was just joking.

He was a funny guy. Had a real dark wit and was obviously very intelligent. Definitely one of my favourite fighters. His wars with Eddie Hall (easily one of the greatest fights of all time), along with Robbie Sims, Duran, Olijade, Hearns, Kinchen, Sanderline Williams....hell, every fight he ever had was amazing.

I also agree with BlackIrish. He was an underrated fighter in the skills department. When he actually chose to fight smart, he had some very underrated weapons. His jab was strong, left hook brilliant, etc etc but he just loved going to war.

It's a pity that he was so wild though as he had to keep fighting for so long. Nonetheless, for a guy that's considered a pure brawler of the lowest kind, him winning titles in three weight divisions, beating ATG's along with KOing a former HW champ for a minor HW title is ****ing impressive. He fought the absolute best of the best across his entire era and has a freakish resume of names.

When you look at where he started, that's incredible too. He was fighting top contenders and good fighters straight away, taking on anyone, win or lose, and always giving a good account of himself. Taking on Sims (25-3 or something) when he was only 7-0 I think or 7-1 is classic Barkley.

[Silencers]

Barkley was a tough, tough guy but I think his skills are sort of underrated. He had decent boxing skills and if I remember correctly managed to outbox Duran in spots and his boxing was a big part of his win over Olajide.