The great scoring debate - Darren Barker v. Affif Belghecham

[MPG]

I thought Darren boxed really well for the 1st 6 rounds last night,IMO he fought the wrong fight but still won by 2 rounds on my card to add the European title to his collection.On another occasion,If they were to fight again,i would put money on Barker totally outworking him over 12 rounds or even stopping him.

IMO Barker just edges Andy Lee in all departments,Barker comes to fight,has the quicker hand speed,throws nice combinations,quicker on his feet,Faster head movement,Andy Lee may have (Has) the better punch.

Watching Barker spar Luke calvert at the Finchley when they were both 11 years old,i knew then that both boxers were gonna be something special.Winning the British,commonwealth & European titles is something Special.

Barker moved from Finchley and went to Repton,where Andy Fought,they must have sparred ?
Anybody know if/how they got on ?

[rob12344]

If Belgecham had power, he would have KO'd both Lee and Barker imo.

[MrBoxingUK2]

If Belgecham had power, he would have KO'd both Lee and Barker imo.

if he had more power barker wouldn't have gone into the trnches with him ;;-)

[stujones]

Barker won for me. By 2 or 3 rounds.

[MPG]

If Belgecham had power, he would have KO'd both Lee and Barker imo.

If Belgecham had power, he would have KO'd both Lee and Barker imo.

if he had more power barker wouldn't have gone into the trnches with him ;;-)

AND If Barker had more Power...Belgecham would not have lasted the 1st 6 rounds

[nh1]

If you didn't see that Barker won that you need a f****** eye test.

With respect, I can't agree.

I had it 114-114.

If you had it to either fighter with a *close* scorecard, fine.

But how one of the judges could give it to Barker by 8 points is beyond me.

[slapbangwhallop]

what you mean the undefeated european champion darren barker

pity he has fought so poorly and such weak opposition to achieve that!

[Spud]

I had Darren Barker winning comfortably - unfortunately for him and his connections he is NOT a world class boxer - superb skills offensively and his defence is quite good too - however when you step up into genuine European and then world class you need a tadge bit of punch power to keep your opponent away - Barker simply does not have that.

[rob12344]

what you mean the undefeated european champion darren barker

pity he has fought so poorly and such weak opposition to achieve that!

Honestly mate, whats your problem with Barker? Why do you put him down. Is it just because he is a rival of Andy Lee and you are Irish?

I'm not a fan of Barker myself but I think I'm just being neutral here. Barker struggled with Belgecham and in my opinion, got exposed in the fight. He has a lot to work on.

But on the other hand, you keep saying Lee completely outboxed Belgecham. We all saw Lee in desperate trouble, holding on and hurt badly in the last round. We all agree unanimously that this happened. We all agree unanimously that Lee would not have lasted 12 rounds with Belgecham. Yet you simply can't accept this. It's actually hilarious to me

Then we have the fact that Lee has been beaten down and stopped by nothing more than a journeyman.

It's clear that Lee and Barker both have vulnerabilities. However, Barker was never stopped by a journeyman like Lee was. And Barker wasn't out on his feet against Belgecham (which several posters here and anyone who actually watched the fight except you, have stated).

Your bias is very funny to read mate, which is why I indulge you, but make no mistake, you are seen as a joke on this forum and it's very clear how biased you are.

However, it's funny to read so keep it up.

[rob12344]

I had Darren Barker winning comfortably - unfortunately for him and his connections he is NOT a world class boxer - superb skills offensively and his defence is quite good too - however when you step up into genuine European and then world class you need a tadge bit of punch power to keep your opponent away - Barker simply does not have that.

Belgecham is a solid fighter at european level and very durable. Lets see Barker fight other European operators before we make judgements on his punch power. It seems decent to me.

[slipandmove]

Barker won it for me not his best performance but barker has so much skill and talent we will see more of in the future

[MrBoxingUK2]

what you mean the undefeated european champion darren barker

pity he has fought so poorly and such weak opposition to achieve that!

pitty andy lee has never won a title worth anything and also a pity he got whooped by a journeyman

[slapbangwhallop]

what you mean the undefeated european champion darren barker

pity he has fought so poorly and such weak opposition to achieve that!

Honestly mate, whats your problem with Barker? Why do you put him down. Is it just because he is a rival of Andy Lee and you are Irish?

I'm not a fan of Barker myself but I think I'm just being neutral here. Barker struggled with Belgecham and in my opinion, got exposed in the fight. He has a lot to work on.

But on the other hand, you keep saying Lee completely outboxed Belgecham. We all saw Lee in desperate trouble, holding on and hurt badly in the last round. We all agree unanimously that this happened. We all agree unanimously that Lee would not have lasted 12 rounds with Belgecham. Yet you simply can't accept this. It's actually hilarious to me

Then we have the fact that Lee has been beaten down and stopped by nothing more than a journeyman.

It's clear that Lee and Barker both have vulnerabilities. However, Barker was never stopped by a journeyman like Lee was. And Barker wasn't out on his feet against Belgecham (which several posters here and anyone who actually watched the fight except you, have stated).

Your bias is very funny to read mate, which is why I indulge you, but make no mistake, you are seen as a joke on this forum and it's very clear how biased you are.

However, it's funny to read so keep it up.

yeah of course! you speak for everyone on here do you Lirva?

[glahn]

For god's sake shut the fornicate up about Andy Lee on EVERY Darren Barker thread. It's doing my head in.

[slapbangwhallop]

How anyone could give the ninth to the French guy is beyond me. There was a big difference between the quality, hard shots that Barker landed through the middle of that round, compared to the punches the French guy landed near the end of the round when Barker got tired. But I suppose on TV you often don't get a true feel for the weight of the shots.
I thought Barker won by 4.

i agree and rewatched this afternoon where i scored it the same which like you was by 4 rounds. My scoring was based on punches that landed and although the Frenchman got through with a few a lot hit the gloves. If there was a rematch i see Barker win a wide UD as he would fight very differently.

the 9th was a strange one but Barker only had a 30 second period in that round imo.

Barker came out and ran, threw arm punches into Affif gloves, Affif closed the gap caught him with a serious of uppercuts, bodyshots. Barker then had Affif up against the ropes for 30 seconds but landed much and mainly caught the gloves.

Affif came back and rocked Barkers head with heavy clean shots after that and Barker actually looked like he might have been stopped in that round as he was crouched up in a ball against the ropes and getting pummelled until the bell rang. Affif's round.

[rob12344]

pity he has fought so poorly and such weak opposition to achieve that!

Honestly mate, whats your problem with Barker? Why do you put him down. Is it just because he is a rival of Andy Lee and you are Irish?

I'm not a fan of Barker myself but I think I'm just being neutral here. Barker struggled with Belgecham and in my opinion, got exposed in the fight. He has a lot to work on.

But on the other hand, you keep saying Lee completely outboxed Belgecham. We all saw Lee in desperate trouble, holding on and hurt badly in the last round. We all agree unanimously that this happened. We all agree unanimously that Lee would not have lasted 12 rounds with Belgecham. Yet you simply can't accept this. It's actually hilarious to me

Then we have the fact that Lee has been beaten down and stopped by nothing more than a journeyman.

It's clear that Lee and Barker both have vulnerabilities. However, Barker was never stopped by a journeyman like Lee was. And Barker wasn't out on his feet against Belgecham (which several posters here and anyone who actually watched the fight except you, have stated).

Your bias is very funny to read mate, which is why I indulge you, but make no mistake, you are seen as a joke on this forum and it's very clear how biased you are.

However, it's funny to read so keep it up.

yeah of course! you speak for everyone on here do you Lirva?

Read the threads mate. Actually, don't. It's funnier that way!

[alexpaterson]

I had 116-112 to Barker I thought the 1st 6 rounds were his on workrate and clean punches landed then 2 of the next six were his because he worked hard and landed some nice combo's. Overall he looked quite poor against a limited opponant, he took too much out of himself early and didnt leave enough for later in the fight, his body work early was very good though, it was one of the few things that impressed me about him last night

[slapbangwhallop]

i agree and rewatched this afternoon where i scored it the same which like you was by 4 rounds. My scoring was based on punches that landed and although the Frenchman got through with a few a lot hit the gloves. If there was a rematch i see Barker win a wide UD as he would fight very differently.

the 9th was a strange one but Barker only had a 30 second period in that round imo.

Barker came out and ran, threw arm punches into Affif gloves, Affif closed the gap caught him with a serious of uppercuts, bodyshots. Barker then had Affif up against the ropes for 30 seconds but landed much and mainly caught the gloves.

Affif came back and rocked Barkers head with heavy clean shots after that and Barker actually looked like he might have been stopped in that round as he was crouched up in a ball against the ropes and getting pummelled until the bell rang. Affif's round.

i think it was more than 30 seconds and i scored for him twice and i tend to score more harshly against a fighter from the UK

fair enough if you took his period of dominance in the round was enough to take the round but ROn said "How anyone could give the ninth to the French guy is beyond me" - thats just wrong in my opinion, Affif did plenty oin that round to take it. Thats my opinion and everyone will be glad to hear that I am self imposing a 7 day hiatus on commenting on the Lee/barker issue.

[scrap iron]

I watched the fight live at the Ally Pally and thought Barker was a clear winner.
He dominated the first half of the fight and I thought rounds 7 and 9 were the most exciting action I've seen in a Darren Barker fight which will also hopefully put an end to some of the criticism that he is not exciting to watch. The only thing that concerned me about last night's performance was the way Darren faded in the last 3 rounds. I have seen this before in the Ben Crampton and Larry Sharpe fights. In the Crampton fight it was the fact he was coming off a year long lay-off after his brother's death and in the Sharpe fight I thought it was due to a delayed medical keeping him up late the night before. My concern is (due to Darren's high workrate) it could simply be a bit of stamina problem he is going to have whenever a fight goes the full 12 rounds. Obviously running out of steam against a big puncher would be worry, but apart from that flaw Darren still has the tools to become a world champion.
As far as last night goes, I was actually surprised when I got home and watched the replay on Sky that I saw Ian Darke was claiming it was really close. However I do now think Affif Belghecham is a lot better that what I originally gave him credit for and maybe Andy Lee shouldn't be judged harshly just because he was hurt in the last round by him.

[gasman]

I didnt score it - but it looked very close.

But, on last nights performance, Barker looks average. That French guy is a tough, aggressive 12-round fighter and I remember him from his fight with Andy Lee - were he came on late against Andy Lee and gave him serious bother in the last round. But, from what I saw, Barker was in trouble with the French lad a lot earlier in the fight than Lee and he really needs to prove himself against a top opponent for me to be convinced that he is anything other than a good domestic pro.

[nicolas]

I watched the fight live last night at ally pally and then again today on sky plus, obvious to see that Barker had an average night at times by his high standards but to be fair to him he has won that by a clear 3 rounds in my opinion! There were also times where I thought he looked classy and in control!

Yes it was very close at times and Belghecham lived up to his durable tag and did well on the night but Barker just had an average night and still dealt with him.

Time to get off his back and respect him for his title succeses - cant help but get the impression some people are hating on him in here for no good reason!

Of course he has more to prove in terms of world class level but lets wait and see what happens.

My personal verdict is Darren Barker is World class and the worthy Europen Champion.

[whicker]

I think Sky's (rather odd) commentary influences a lot of people's views on the score.

[hurlock]

there was only one winner in that fight & that was barker.the french guy was tough & capable :!: .why aint barker getting credit for it?

[MrBoxingUK2]

there was only one winner in that fight & that was barker.the french guy was tough & capable :!: .why aint barker getting credit for it?

i agree, but barker only showed 50% of what he has i feel.

[hurlock]

there was only one winner in that fight & that was barker.the french guy was tough & capable :!: .why aint barker getting credit for it?

i agree, but barker only showed 50% of what he has i feel.

he's fitness wasnt 100% & i'd say he learnt a valuble lesson there.that guy would beat most middles in britain apart from macklin.