Martinez vs Barker Results: Sergio Knocks Out Barker in 11th Round of Competitive Fight
by Scott Christ on Oct 2, 2011 5:11 AM EDT
in Boxing Results and Post-Fight Analysis
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Those who thought Sergio Martinez would have it relatively easy last night came out of the fight with Darren Barker either pleasantly surprised about Barker's quality, or a bit worried about Martinez's return to earth. But either way you look at it, "Maravilla" is still the middleweight champion of the world, and still a cut above the field at 160 pounds.
Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO) found himself up against a formidable, smart fighter tonight in England's Barker (23-1, 14 KO), and wasn't able to so easily find the openings that have made him look so great in back-to-back wins over Paul Williams and Sergiy Dzinziruk. But he got the job done, and knocked out Barker in the 11th round on a thudding right hook that caught more glove than head, but folded an exhausted and beaten up Barker for the ten count, anyway.
The win keeps Sergio at the top of the heap at 160 pounds, and also I think gives "Dazzling" Darren a new respect from boxing fans worldwide. He was never in danger of winning the fight, so to speak, but he made Martinez work for it, bloodying his nose and finding some success with his right hand. Martinez looked positively human in this fight, instead of the other-level superstar.
At the time of stoppage, I had the fight 97-92 in Martinez's favor. I gave Barker the second, fourth and eighth rounds, but gave Martinez a 10-8 for a dominant 10th round that saw Barker badly wobbled and on his last legs. It was the one round in the fight where Martinez looked truly superior to his opponent, in the sense of being a class or more above him, and the only round where the pre-fight odds played out. That one was all Sergio, as Barker looked tired and out of sorts offensively, and as a result, saw his defense crumble, with Martinez swinging the hammer that was breaking down the wall.
The 11th round was looking like more of the same before Barker just toppled over and couldn't get up. Official time of the stoppage was 1:29 of the 11th round.
For Darren Barker, it's kind of a mixed bag, at least to me. Yes, he fought better than I expected, but it was still Martinez's fight, and the stamina issues cropped up once again. Is he better than I thought going into this fight? No, not really. I thought he was a pretty good fighter coming in, and he's a pretty good fighter after, too. Martinez is just better than him, and while it may have been an off-night for Sergio or a good game plan for Barker, or just a style matchup that gave Barker a better shot to hang in than I expected (although our own Andrew Fruman called this one pretty damn close to perfect), Sergio got the job done, knocked his opponent out, and carries on as the world's best middleweight.
It may or may not lead to Sergio finding it easier to get big fights, but we'll get into that later today. Martinez didn't look any more flawed than before, he just didn't look as scintillating, because Barker wasn't giving him the necessary openings and looks for a scintillating performance.
Maybe he's back to earth, but Sergio Martinez is still on top of the middleweight mountain.
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I have contended that Sergio’s hands down offense could very well be his eventual undoing. What I saw was a blueprint for a bigger more aggressive puncher.
I would love to see Margarito fight him again just for kicks. The old Antonio’s sytle would be a nightmare for Sergio. AM leaves himself open because he punches frequently….but he has/had a great beard and is a come forward volume puncher who throws with malice; something Barker is not. He also has/had stamina coming out the wazoo. And Sergio has mid round lapses.
Dont get me wrong, I do not think we will ever see the same Margarito that aborbed Cotto’ punches with glee in their fight fight again……but if he were still that man, he would be hell for Sergio even today.
I also think Floyd would be an absolute nightmare for Martinez.
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
I think Martinez would tear Margarito to pieces, and that’s not because I like Margarito less than you do. That’s just a style matchup I think is brutal for Antonio at this point. Little Manny Pacquiao used southpaw speed to break Margarito’s face to pieces, and Sergio Martinez is a 5’10" guy who fights at middleweight. He’d crush Margarito these days. Now a prime Margarito against the Sergio we have now at 154? That’s a fight I’d like to see. I don’t think there was ever a real Margarito vs Martinez fight. That fight they had I pretty much throw out the window. If Barker had opened up the way Margarito would, Barker would have gone out a lot sooner, too.
As for Floyd vs Sergio, I always thought I’d confidently pick Floyd to win that one, but I still think it’s very interesting. I’d be especially curious to see how Martinez would do leading the dance the whole way, since he’d have to do so. He’s got enough power to shake Floyd on any left hand or right hook, and he’s definitely better and more accurate/faster than Victor Ortiz. But I’d still pick Floyd if the fight were at 154, and I’d definitely take him if Martinez boiled all the way down to 150 and left himself a dried-out husk of a man for the money.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
No disagreements
I was trying to make clear that I believe that Margarito of old would always be a stylistic nighmre for Sergio. He woul walk him down, fight him in close, throw and reciv and basiclly do evrything Barker did but be far more offecsive.
Martinez gets hit pretty easily. Floyd would IMO break his nose and right hand lead him to death. And then coast to a wide decision.
Especially the new come forward, close the distance FM
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
Martinez is perhaps the only relatively fast guy with real pop that Mayweather has faced in years.
Margarito just can’t take punches anymore and get hit way too often for anyone to really think he has a chance to wear down Martinez.
Lets Martinez his due, he might be a cutie with his hands down, but he is a badass who can take punches esp at his more natural weight.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
Agree with Scott above
I see a MArtinez Margo fight going like a Mosley Shane fight. Just far to quick and slick and Martinez just bounces left hands off of his face untill the Ref steps in
by Sweet science on Oct 2, 2011 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Respect to Darren Barker
He performed better than i thought he would and although i wasn’t scoring the fight, i was surprised to have it close to even through 8 rds or so.
Maybe Martinez underestimated Barker (likely, seen as he has been talking a lot about bigger opponnents for the last few weeks) or Barker just fought good and smart, especially defensively. More likely a bit of both.
Barker did himself and England proud, imo, and i felt sympathy for him in the after fight interview on Sky. he was absolutely devastated and clsoe to tears, but he has nothing to be ashamed of, imo.
If fact,as a 12-1 underdog, i think he can be quite proud of himself.
He does need to find a way to improve his stamina though.
He fought an excellent fight
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
Another plus point for Darren is that he is a humble lad with zero arrogance to his personality.
After listening to load mouthed fellow Brits such as Haye mouthing off and not backing up his boasts, it’s nice to see Darren stay pretty quiet in the lead up and then put up a good fight.
The Sky commentators hinted at this too. I think most boxing fans in the UK (or likely even more so in the rest of the world) won’t easily forget how much Haye promised and how little he delivered, but anyway, i digress.
Quite honestly I never heard of Barker until the fight was mentioned.
However, he came out and, for me, made Martinez look human so to speak.
I was very impressed with him.
(Which also reminds me, the commentators did nothing to help his cause at all. Would like to hear how sky sports called it.)
The thing with the hangs down is just Martinez’s style and I don’t think it should be looked as a flaw even if it is technically. After a while it seemed like he was looking to lure Barker in with that tactic so as to land the bomb, like he did on P.W.
I actually started to worry for him.
Barker did great considering…
Respect to Barker.
I think Barker, matt Macklin and Andy Lee can make for a very good set of fights together and all three are capable of picking up a belt, imo.
Not sure if Macklin would fight Lee though. I think they are buddies, though i could be wrong.
They both seem the type that would fight a friend if it needed to happen.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
Yeah, i think you’re probably right. I also think they are all capable of beating the likes of Felix Sturm. I have been impressed by all 3 in their latest fights and thought Lee had shown great improvement under Manny Steward last night.
I know i shouldn’t really mention two in the same sentence but when considering height and range, and the facts that Manny is in his corner and he wears the yellow Kronk shorts, Lee reminds me a little bit of a white Tommy Hearns (yeah, i said it!:)
I think that is probably where the comparisons end though.
Barker had a really good gameplan. It create a competitive, interesting fight where he at times seemed to really trouble Martinez (tactical trouble, not ‘he is kicking ass’ trouble). He did his best but Martinez was just better. Barker, Lee, Macklin, Pirog and Proksa in any combination could lead to interesting fights though.
Nobody will read this and care and why should they?
It was an odd fight. Martinez seemed to come in wanting to be a counterpuncher, but Barker was content to sit behind a well-executed high guard, throw thirty punches a round, and land five or so light shots while keeping Martinez from landing much of consequence. And this pattern held up until the middle rounds, not because Martinez changed strategy, but because Barker stopped throwing even those few decent punches, allowing the occasional Martinez headshot (and some decent body work) to win him rounds.
And then Martinez decided ‘screw this counterpunching bullshit, I’m going to punch him in the face until he falls down.’ And after a couple or rounds, Barker fell down.
Strange gameplan and lack of adjustments from Martinez, overall. Barker came in with a good plan, executed it well, and was banking close rounds early (on my card at least) until he stopped what little punching he was doing and Martinez wised up .
by Verklemptomaniac on Oct 2, 2011 10:12 AM EDT reply actions
Yeah I thought it was a bit weird how focused Martinez seemed to be on waiting for the counterpunch alone. At times he looked like David Haye against Wlad in there. I know that’s the style he adopts in many fights, but he’s demonstrated a capability for taking the initiative in the past; last night he only seemed to do so in the last 2.5 rounds. Beyond that the lack of lateral movement also seemed uncharacteristic, especially in comparison to the Bunema and Pavlik fights.
Full credit to Barker though for coming with a gameplan that made Martinez so uncomfortable and made him work for a decision.
Well the last three fights have been vs southpaws and then Pavlick who is there to be hit….
Barker wasn’t any of this. He covered up and was the classical boxer which bothered Martinez.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
Winky
Barker’s style reminded me of a more offensively-challenged Winky Wright: gloves held high, long arms protecting his midsection. It was a pretty impenetrable defense, I have to say. It’s tough to look good against a guy with a style like that.
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