Upcoming middleweight championship challenger "Dazzling" Darren Barker tells Sky Sports that he doesn't think champion Sergio Martinez is invincible, and definitely expects that he'll beat him on October 1 in Atlantic City:
"I haven't stopped watching him, his strengths and weaknesses, his opponents and what they've done well. And we'll come up with a plan which we believe will beat Martinez and one I believe I can execute on the night. ... I wouldn't say he's invincible, but he's in this position for a reason. ... Me fighting Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City shows I've been doing everything right in my career. I owe it to myself to go out there now and show the world what I can do. Me fighting top of the bill in the States feels like my time."
Barker (23-0, 14 KO) is a significant underdog against Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO), and there are good reasons for that. It's a big step up in class from the likes of Danny Butler, Affif Belghecham, and Domenico Spada, and Barker had troubles with the last two of those fights. Unless he's far better than he's been to date as a pro, it's likely to be a rough night for him against Sergio, who has simply proven to be in a different class.
The thing that makes me not hate this fight, though, is that Martinez has to fight someone, and it is, in a way, Barker's time. He's a two-time European middleweight champion, a former British and Commonwealth champ, and he's got nowhere to go but the world stage now. It's time for him to prove his worth on the big stage, whatever that worth may be.