Barker vs. Sturm is on!

[mathed]

LOL, WTF??? Taking your title to another man's homeland is crazy. He'll need to bust Sturm to pieces to win.

[King_]

Especially in Germany. Although there is a hope a robbery won't occur as Daniel Geale was given the decision in his fight with Sturm when I thought it was really close and could have gone either way.

Geale and Soliman both won decisions there recently in fights that could of potentially gone to Sturm. Macklin also got a draw. The German-Robbery myth has been just that recently; myth. There's been far more robberies in the past year or so in the UK and the USA. IMO

Sturm is not particularly popular with the judges having lost two razorthin decisions against Geale and Soliman. Both fights in Germany. You are putting forth a myth.

^This

[BattleAxePurist]

If Barker can match the same effort he put forth against Geale he should be able to win a close dec while Sturm keeps a much tighter guard than Geale he's prone to inactive periods and won't be able to take advantage of Barker's biggest weakness his chin

[BattlingNelson]

He also got numerous decisions go his way as well let's not forget. Either way, it's a dumb move on Barker's part. He could easily set up a good money making defense, a domestic fight, then go on to bigger things. Sturm is nothing right now.

Like the DLH fight you mean?

Anyway I think this is a good time for Barker to take on Sturm. Sturm is passed his best now relying more on warrior instinct than the jab which was one of the best in boxing 4 years ago.

[shutupmeg]

If Barker can match the same effort he put forth against Geale he should be able to win a close dec while Sturm keeps a much tighter guard than Geale he's prone to inactive periods and won't be able to take advantage of Barker's biggest weakness his chin

Explain to me why Barker has a weak chin?

[soul_survivor]

This means the IBF is going to be held hostage for a couple years - Barker, Sturm, Soliman, Geale all passing it around I bet. Forget that belt man, it's gonna be worthless for a while

Why does it make the belt worthless?

Barker, Sturm and Geale are all worthy top 10 middleweights, maybe not so much Sturm these days but if these guys all fight each other, it makes for a good round robin. Throw Murray and Macklin into the mix and you can't go wrong.

What don't you like about it? that these guys may not fight GGG? The same guy who has defended his WBA title against a string of 154 pounders? Come on, let's get some perspective here.

Yes GGG is the hardest hitting of the lot and has a decent chance of beating Martinez, may be the best chance out of anyone in the top 20 but he hasn't done anything with his world title except get tomato cans fed to him on HBO, apart from Macklin of course.

If you look at it, every name you mentioned in a derogatory way has a better resume than GGG, heck GGGs next opponent is Curtis Stevens lol come on bro, grow up and stop being a fighter fan and start being a fight fan.