DavidPayne wrote:Final round wrote:DavidPayne wrote:I'm torn on Barker.
1 - He was a world class Amatuer, is in his prime at 28, and he'll either good enough or he wont and fighting Macklin wouldn't make Martinez any easier down the line.
2 - Barker will be boiled dry at 160pound, ill-prepared for the intensity and quality Martinez brings and be overwhelmed in the mid-rounds
3 - Martinez isn't the killer he's projected to be and built his recent repute in wins in favourable circumstances, Williams is shot to shit for one.
Like I say, when one of the latter two points wins out, I'll have an opinion on his chances, at present, I'm Natalie Imbruglia.
Williams is shot to shit ,when was this established? round 2 of Martinez II? or was he shot to shit before he got spanked. He didn't look shot in the first fight and the Cintron fight didn't tell us much
Okay forgive the flagrantly melodramatic summary. I would argue however, that he has often flattered to deceive and certainly looked faded in the bout after Martinez, though obviously, it would be easy to claim Martinez beat the jelly out of him.
Martinez has always been a sleeper, a good fighter in the shadows of Winky, Oscar, Shane, Vernon through the last decade but I also think its a bit of leap to suggest his recent form isn't without some circumstantial evidence that suggests his current standing is perhaps less solid than contemporaries JMM, MP, PBF and Hopkins with whom he is now compared.
If Martinez is slightly over-glamorised by his recent form and isn't, for example, the puncher the Williams fight potrays him as then Barker has a better chance than the form book suggests.
However, of greater worry to me is Barker's hip and how well he does the weight, you have to believe he will be super-prepared and motivated. And he's a talented guy.
Good points, David - you are dead right I think it might be too early to judge Martinez run at Middleweight and place him so high in the P4P list. However, I would certainly argue that Martinez is a much better fighter at Middleweight than he was at Light Middleweight. He just "looks" better, he looks fitter physically at the new weight and whilst I do agree we might be overating based on 1 or 2 classy wins against fighters with issues, it is important to remember the example of fighters who have transformed their career due to moving up.
Our own Amir Khan is one that springs to mind. He had skills at Lightweight, but looked very very weak chinned and a light puncher at Lightweight. Now he seems to be punching very hard, and his chin is holding up better than anyone would have anticipated at the new weight.
Another fighter, who I see some comparisons about is Manny Pacquiao - I remember when he beat David Diaz, people were calling him a non puncher at the weight.... suggesting he was at his highest possible weight and he would get killed by DLH. When he demolished Oscar, hurting him early basically like no other fighter has done, people were (with some justification IMO) quick to still relatively write Pacquiao off, in terms of punching power, because of DLH's weight making issues. However, people soon stopped as Hatton laid sprawled for over 5 minutes.
With Martinez I agree its more a "feel" cause his opponents have had issues - but he just looks so ripped at Middleweight. I just think he is very much the real deal and could have a top 5 P4P placing. There is not much out there more worthy.
