Was Darren Barker awful or Felix Sturm fantastic

[rossij8]

Over confident, under estimated Sturm I think

The rematch, as contracted, shouldn't happen as fight wasn't even tight

What a balls up by Eddie and co

[rossij8]

Sturm, what a gent

[polecateddy]

Will Darren Baker go down the Nicky Cook and Paul Briggs route of 'I'm not damaged goods honest' to take the payday in the rematch ...which I think was a clause of the contract.

[Autobarn]

it's a shame. barker was exceptional in his previous fight vs sturm-conqueror (albeit narrowly) geale. that one was an inspired performance. maybe that took a lot out of barker, along with the injury. felix is big and strong at the weight, which couldn't hav ehelped.

surprises in boxing always get me excited, like this, sturm's 3rd title at 160 (having held WBO title, 1 successful defense; WBA title, 12 successful defences). alongside groves' strong performance, the other week.

about time for sturm v Martinez as they both have big bodies of work - sturm, hugely prolific; Martinez, with the spectacular big wins on HBO - and it would be a terrific contest, maybe even rivalry.

[Spud]

Over confident, under estimated Sturm I think

The rematch, as contracted, shouldn't happen as fight wasn't even tight

What a balls up by Eddie and co

How the f*ck has any form of blame got to go to Eddie Hearn? I cant wait for the explanation on that one.

Felix Sturm stuck to his fight plan - Barker didnt!!

Sturm should be given a lot of respect for last nights performance.

[hurlock]

Eddie done his job!! Got barker the shot & secured his future. Should be mortgage free & have abit of money to start up a buisness.

[Loftgroov]

As for the dislocated hip, well he was walking out of the ring on his own, when I dislocated my hip I had to be dragged along on the doctors! He certainly had a hip problem though

I did think the same TBH. Barker was still vertical when the towel came in....and walked out the ring. Not so sure that can be tolerated on a "dislocated" hip, actually out of the socket.

[stujones]

Barker clearly injured....Sturm fought well against wounded pray. Don't think Sturm hurt Barker in the second that much.....like I didn't think burns hurt cook that much.


One way of getting Sturm in London....Sturm will be super confident in a rematch.

[WayoftheCass]

Over confident, under estimated Sturm I think

The rematch, as contracted, shouldn't happen as fight wasn't even tight

What a balls up by Eddie and co

How the f*ck has any form of blame got to go to Eddie Hearn? I cant wait for the explanation on that one.

Felix Sturm stuck to his fight plan - Barker didnt!!

Sturm should be given a lot of respect for last nights performance.

Yeah it's all Eddie's fault.

[crusader]

I've seen some people attribute the knockdowns to the hip injury, but prior to being dropped he was throwing punches freely with both hands and he seemed to be moving no worse than he usually does. I thought he was clearly hurt by a punch immediately before first going down and it didn't look to me like his hip was responsible for any part of that knockdown; in fact, it was reminiscent of the way he fell to his knees against Martinez and Geale. He got up and was again throwing punches and moving fine aside from the limp after the second knockdown, and it seemed like right hands to his head were hurting the hip more than anything.

[stujones]

I've seen some people attribute the knockdowns to the hip injury, but prior to being dropped he was throwing punches freely with both hands and he seemed to be moving no worse than he usually does. I thought he was clearly hurt by a punch immediately before first going down and it didn't look to me like his hip was responsible for any part of that knockdown; in fact, it was reminiscent of the way he fell to his knees against Martinez and Geale. He got up and was again throwing punches and moving fine aside from the limp after the second knockdown, and it seemed like right hands to his head were hurting the hip more than anything.

I guess it's hard to tell.... Although I saw the Liverpool card so watched the fight knowing what happened....yes I saw the head shot stiffen the legs, but a genuinely think it was his hip and the punch did impact on his hip.

Didn't think he was moving fine even when he had a good period in the 2nd. There was no bounce at all, no upper body movement.

[TheCobra]

Was Barker carrying the injury going into the fight is my question. Has he just taken a big payday knowing he was injured and pushing his luck a bit? Only speculation but he was absolutely dire in there last night.

I think the Geale fight has emptied his tank if I'm honest, he had to go right to the bottom of the well in that fight, he looked frail and weak in there last night.

[wrimc]

I did get the sense in the build up that winning the world title was the pinnacle and everyhting that came after that was a bonus.

All the talk of this money securing his future did have a tinge of him having one foot already out of the door in terms of his retirment and he knew he had to show up to collect his paypacket.

I think he lost the fire a bit and it was a case of get in good shape win or lose I made my money. Thats the difference. Sturm lost his title and was hungry and came back for more. Cant believe all our middleweights have failed to beat Sturm.

[TheCobra]

I'd definitely be a bit pissed off if I was one of those travelling fans paying decent money to go out to Germany and watch that garbage, it was very poor.

[palooka]

Over confident, under estimated Sturm I think

The rematch, as contracted, shouldn't happen as fight wasn't even tight

What a balls up by Eddie and co

How the f*ck has any form of blame got to go to Eddie Hearn? I cant wait for the explanation on that one.

Felix Sturm stuck to his fight plan - Barker didnt!!

Sturm should be given a lot of respect for last nights performance.

People maybe think that Barker wasn't fully fit going into the fight, for his hip to be damaged that way after maybe 4 minutes of boxing maybe one of those things or maybe it weren't right going in. The fight was promoted as a title defense by a world champion and implicit in that is that the champion is physically in good order; people have paid money out of their wages to support Barker, paid for SKY (who have paid Hearn and Barker) people have bet money on Barker at the bookies. The million pound purse hasn't been given to Barker by the man in the moon. If he weren't fit to fight he shouldn't have been there simple as; £ddie is very hands on and he'd have known about an injury ergo he can be blamed.

[WelshJack]

Over confident, under estimated Sturm I think

The rematch, as contracted, shouldn't happen as fight wasn't even tight

What a balls up by Eddie and co

How the f*ck has any form of blame got to go to Eddie Hearn? I cant wait for the explanation on that one.

Felix Sturm stuck to his fight plan - Barker didnt!!

Sturm should be given a lot of respect for last nights performance.

People maybe think that Barker wasn't fully fit going into the fight, for his hip to be damaged that way after maybe 4 minutes of boxing maybe one of those things or maybe it weren't right going in. The fight was promoted as a title defense by a world champion and implicit in that is that the champion is physically in good order; people have paid money out of their wages to support Barker, paid for SKY (who have paid Hearn and Barker) people have bet money on Barker at the bookies. The million pound purse hasn't been given to Barker by the man in the moon. If he weren't fit to fight he shouldn't have been there simple as; £ddie is very hands on and he'd have known about an injury ergo he can be blamed.

If he cancelled all those Barker fans lose their money?

[cutsman]

He needs a hip replacement and will not fight again. It was troubling him a bit in camp but then he always has a few niggles.

done very well to make his money with a broken body. Well played Barker. Enjoy retirement.