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By Scott Gilfoid:
I’ve seen the Darren Barker vs. Sergio Martinez fight now several times and I’m not fully convinced that Martinez, the WBC Diamond middleweight champion, chose to purposely carry the 29-year-old Barker for 10 rounds for Martinez to come across as more vulnerable so that he can land a fight against boxing’s biggest money stars Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Those are great fighters, but the one constant between the two is that their opposition almost always is picked from fighters that are struggling and coming off of recent incredibly bad outings. You almost never see Pacquiao and Mayweather facing guys that are looking devastating. When they do take on excellent fighters, it’s often when they’re getting a little long in the tooth like Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
But I think Martinez could have blown Barker out of the ring in the first two rounds if he were fighting as he usually does trying to get his opponents out quickly. However, it looked here like Martinez opted to carry the Brit so Martinez would look beatable for Mayweather and Pacquiao. I think I’m right on this, I really do. When the fight got to the 10th, you could see Martinez suddenly changing, as if to say, ‘Hey, it’s time I get this baggage out of the way, because I can’t take a chance with judges.’
It was at that point where Martinez stepped up his attack and immediately hurt Barker in the 11th, and finished him off with a nothing of a right hand in the 11th in what looked more like a push than an actual punch. Barker just fell over and just didn’t get back up. It looked bad on television, like Barker just didn’t want anymore. Who can blame the guy if that were the case. He really wasn’t doing anything all fight long even when Martinez looked to be in neutral and not even trying to win.
I’ve seen the Darren Barker vs. Sergio Martinez fight now several times and I’m not fully convinced that Martinez, the WBC Diamond middleweight champion, chose to purposely carry the 29-year-old Barker for 10 rounds for Martinez to come across as more vulnerable so that he can land a fight against boxing’s biggest money stars Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Those are great fighters, but the one constant between the two is that their opposition almost always is picked from fighters that are struggling and coming off of recent incredibly bad outings. You almost never see Pacquiao and Mayweather facing guys that are looking devastating. When they do take on excellent fighters, it’s often when they’re getting a little long in the tooth like Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
But I think Martinez could have blown Barker out of the ring in the first two rounds if he were fighting as he usually does trying to get his opponents out quickly. However, it looked here like Martinez opted to carry the Brit so Martinez would look beatable for Mayweather and Pacquiao. I think I’m right on this, I really do. When the fight got to the 10th, you could see Martinez suddenly changing, as if to say, ‘Hey, it’s time I get this baggage out of the way, because I can’t take a chance with judges.’
It was at that point where Martinez stepped up his attack and immediately hurt Barker in the 11th, and finished him off with a nothing of a right hand in the 11th in what looked more like a push than an actual punch. Barker just fell over and just didn’t get back up. It looked bad on television, like Barker just didn’t want anymore. Who can blame the guy if that were the case. He really wasn’t doing anything all fight long even when Martinez looked to be in neutral and not even trying to win.
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