Are Britain's Middleweights Going To Be The 'Nearly Men'?
by JT64 on Feb 14, 2012 2:14 PM EST
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PrintLast year, Britain's 3 best middleweights all fought for world titles, Matthew Macklin and Martin Murray fought for Felix Sturm's WBA Super version of the title and Darren Barker matched up against Sergio Martinez for the WBC Diamond and The Ring titles. While Darren Barker gave Martinez a good fight, he was outclassed by the Argentine Middleweight king. As for Macklin and Murray, both their outcomes can be debated, with them both putting on fight-winning performances only to see Sturm go home with his belt still around his waist.
So what I'm asking is whether the British middleweights do have the class to be world champions or whether they will forever be lingering in the gap between being to good for domestic and European glory but not quite there in terms of being top class, world level fighters?
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The last likely to win a title IMO is Barker — the most likely is Macklin if he gets another favorable matchup. None of them on their best day are going to beat Sergio Martinez, but I’d give Macklin a fighting chance in a rematch against Sturm (obviously) and I think I’d actually pick him to beat Dmitry Pirog who is quickly becoming one of the most annoying fighters in the world (my favorite thing now is he turned down a Golovkin fight to supposedly fight N’Jikam, and then injured himself falling down, so that’s not happening either).
Murray may well have had his best possible night against Sturm in December. I’d pick Sturm or Pirog to beat Barker, who is the most “skilled” of the three but has the worst gas tank and just the least grittiness, IMO.
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I think Murray could show up at 180lbs to fight JCC Jr.
by Im_a_fun_haver on Feb 15, 2012 9:17 AM EST up reply actions
Macklin’s the best fight for him. Murray would give him a run but probably legitimately lose. I think Chavez would wear Barker out bad and ultimately physically dominate him.
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by Scott Christ on Feb 15, 2012 5:43 PM EST up reply actions
And by “legitimately lose” I mean you could score it 115-113 or 116-112 for Chavez in a competitive fight where the scores are 118-110 type stuff.
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by Scott Christ on Feb 15, 2012 5:44 PM EST up reply actions
In fairness to Pirog, I have no idea how serious either of those offers from Golovkin and N’Jikam were; I pretty much assumed they were more of the usual posturing we’ve seen in that division over the past couple of years. Golovkin’s own manager shot down talk of a Pirog fight immediately after the Simon win and nothing in N’Jikam’s recent history makes me think anything close to a serious proposal either.
I think Macklin would probably be the most likely of the three to win a decision over a beltholder and Barker the least likely just on workrate alone. I do however think I’d slightly favor Barker to come out on top if the three of them ever fought.
Nothing in Pirog’s recent history makes me think he’s any more serious than Golovkin or N’jikam, though of the three I feel N’jikam is by far the least serious.
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"The internet has undermined professionalism in journalism, which is a good thing." - Bill James
by Scott Christ on Feb 15, 2012 5:45 PM EST up reply actions
I agree, I just think it’s more of the same for all of the parties involved. Quillin probably annoys me the most of all the paralyzed middleweights since he’s actually turned down legitimate offers only to then act like guys were ducking him.
Yeah. I mean Jesus, how long have we been talking about Golovkin-N’jikam now? Three years? This is the Mayweather-Pacquiao nobody cares about.
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"The internet has undermined professionalism in journalism, which is a good thing." - Bill James
by Scott Christ on Feb 16, 2012 5:01 PM EST up reply actions
It's a shame about Pirog. I thought he was going to be a legit #2 in the division by now.
I think he’s a bit too straightforward for Sergio, but he looked like he’d beat anyone else with a bit more seasoning. Shame he hasn’t decided to take the necessary steps, really.
What opportunities has he passed up? We know he’s pursued Martinez, Sturm, Geale, Barker. Like bachwards said, no offer from GG, and no interest from his management, at least 2 months ago.
N’Jikam supposedly made an offer to fight him in EQUATORIAL GUINEA. It says a lot about how desperate Pirog is that he even pretended to entertain the idea. Sounds like he’ll sit out his “injury”, then make NJikam a decent offer to come to Russia.
by HamzaWanderaWRSCO on Feb 18, 2012 3:59 PM EST up reply actions
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