Darren Barker announces retirement.

[Deno1986]

Breaking news on Sky Sports. Not really surprising.

Former world champion Darren Barker has announced his retirement from boxing.

Barker achieved his greatest moment in the sport last year, taking the IBF middleweight title with a courageous victory over Daniel Geale in August.

But the Barnet fighter suffered a serious hip injury in his first title defence, a second-round stoppage defeat by Felix Sturm in December.

A string of injuries have disrupted the 31-year-old's career in recent years and he made the tough decision to hang up his gloves after this latest setback.

Barker claimed British, Commonwealth and European titles as he rose up the rankings, but was halted by Sergio Martinez in his first world title shot in 2011.

His career was thrown into doubt after he struggled with further injuries, but Barker appeared better than ever as he returned with wins over Kerry Hope and Simone Rotolo.

The thrilling battle with Geale would come next and Barker rose from a knockdown before pounding out a points win, which prompted emotional scenes in Atlantic City.

Barker's brief reign was ended in heart breaking fashion and he hobbled from the ring after losing the belt to Sturm in Stuttgart.

He retires with a record of 26 wins, 16 stoppages, with just two defeats.

.

[danconnollyeire]

Retires a former world champ... well done Darren good luck in the future

[TopGun]

Fair play he won a world title. IMO was never the best in Britain let alone the world but well done and enjoy retirement.

[mickey1975]

He retired in his head before the Sturm fight. A pension payday he had no chance of winning. They knew that all along or they would never have took the fight in Germany.

[johnswan1]

I wonder how many fighters in history have ever sold their title for as much as Barker did? Fair play to him.

[bripez]

Fair play he won a world title. IMO was never the best in Britain let alone the world but well done and enjoy retirement.

I do agree with the above.

He benefitted from good management / promotion. Barker seems sound so good luck to him.

[80/20]

Best of luck to him, hopefully secured the future for himself and family amd can go on to enjoy life.

I think he mentioned in an IFL TV interview that he was unsure after winning the title , before the sturm fight on how much more his body could take and the purse was the motivation. maybe not in those words but you wouldnt have to read to deep to get the idea.

If so there will be many that disagree with it however I say good luck to him and a smart business kove after all boxing is a business and a risky one at that .

[mickey1975]

Fair play he won a world title. IMO was never the best in Britain let alone the world but well done and enjoy retirement.

I do agree with the above.

He benefitted from good management / promotion. Barker seems sound so good luck to him.

He benefitted a lot from Adam Smith and Eddie Hearn loving him.

[TopGun]

Best of luck to him, hopefully secured the future for himself and family amd can go on to enjoy life.

I think he mentioned in an IFL TV interview that he was unsure after winning the title , before the sturm fight on how much more his body could take and the purse was the motivation. maybe not in those words but you wouldnt have to read to deep to get the idea.

If so there will be many that disagree with it however I say good luck to him and a smart business kove after all boxing is a business and a risky one at that .

I would never dig him for taking the fight in Germany as I would do the same for that money. I actually thought he may try and take the rematch just to be greedy and in some ways I wouldn't blame him but there would be uproar from the fans and it would have left him a damaged legacy.

[80/20]

Best of luck to him, hopefully secured the future for himself and family amd can go on to enjoy life.

I think he mentioned in an IFL TV interview that he was unsure after winning the title , before the sturm fight on how much more his body could take and the purse was the motivation. maybe not in those words but you wouldnt have to read to deep to get the idea.

If so there will be many that disagree with it however I say good luck to him and a smart business kove after all boxing is a business and a risky one at that .

I would never dig him for taking the fight in Germany as I would do the same for that money. I actually thought he may try and take the rematch just to be greedy and in some ways I wouldn't blame him but there would be uproar from the fans and it would have left him a damaged legacy.

Agreed and from what Ive seen of Darren he seems a decent guy and respects the business and fans enough not to

[mickey1975]

Best of luck to him, hopefully secured the future for himself and family amd can go on to enjoy life.

I think he mentioned in an IFL TV interview that he was unsure after winning the title , before the sturm fight on how much more his body could take and the purse was the motivation. maybe not in those words but you wouldnt have to read to deep to get the idea.

If so there will be many that disagree with it however I say good luck to him and a smart business kove after all boxing is a business and a risky one at that .

I would never dig him for taking the fight in Germany as I would do the same for that money. I actually thought he may try and take the rematch just to be greedy and in some ways I wouldn't blame him but there would be uproar from the fans and it would have left him a damaged legacy.

Agreed and from what Ive seen of Darren he seems a decent guy and respects the business and fans enough not to

I think he already did that in the first fight!

[80/20]

Already did what mate ?

[mickey1975]

Already did what mate ?

Let the fans down. He wasn't right going into that Sturm fight. They knew it.

[80/20]

Already did what mate ?

Let the fans down. He wasn't right going into that Sturm fight. They knew it.

So would you have come out and said thats me and turned down the opportunity to secure your future ?

[TopGun]

Already did what mate ?

Let the fans down. He wasn't right going into that Sturm fight. They knew it.

Whether this is true, like I said, you cannot blame the guy. 1 million to fight. Come on, I'd be peed off if it was Haye who already has loads of cash but this is a life changer for Darren so I bet 99% of people out there would do the same.

[mickey1975]

Already did what mate ?

Let the fans down. He wasn't right going into that Sturm fight. They knew it.

So would you have come out and said thats me and turned down the opportunity to secure your future ?

No, but I don't get any credit for being a nice bloke.

[80/20]

Already did what mate ?

Let the fans down. He wasn't right going into that Sturm fight. They knew it.

Whether this is true, like I said, you cannot blame the guy. 1 million to fight. Come on, I'd be peed off if it was Haye who already has loads of cash but this is a life changer for Darren so I bet 99% of people out there would do the same.

Agreed, Money is not everything, however I am sure than any of the fans that traveled would not begrudge Darren a penny of his purse and to say he let anyone down is a bit unfair …….He could've pulled out and messed people around for a while costing them money

[mickey1975]

I bet the fans who bet on him back in England would disagree. He was a slight favourite. I had Sturm. Speaking of betting, where's Hagler nowadays?

[80/20]

I get what you are saying there mate, I gave it a miss as I had an idea that with a world title completing the set and with his previous issues it could be a business move but then I wouldnt bet on football/darts/snooker as I dont know enough about it and with the way boxing is you need to know the game before letting go.of any cash

[mickey1975]

I get what you are saying there mate, I gave it a miss as I had an idea that with a world title completing the set and with his previous issues it could be a business move but then I wouldnt bet on football/darts/snooker as I dont know enough about it and with the way boxing is you need to know the game before letting go.of any cash

With the cash Team Sturm were paying, I just knew that they would win the title.

[palooka]

Let the fans down. He wasn't right going into that Sturm fight. They knew it.[/quote]

So would you have come out and said thats me and turned down the opportunity to secure your future ?[/quote]

No, but I don't get any credit for being a nice bloke.[/quote]

You're just misunderstood

[tear up]

Wish him well had a great career good luck in the future Darren

[Finn]

He won a world title which was his dream and the number of times he had to start his career again again i think he will be very happy with how he's ended his career.

I really dont care if he knew he wasnt right going into the sturm fight, i cant begrudge a man who was such professional and had so many issues throughout his career taking his one shot to earn a million quid and set himself up for life. Any one of us would have done the same.

[Bodyshot3]

I think Darren will look back on his career with very conflicting feelings. On the one hand he boxed supremely well against Martinez and can always hold his head up high having given an elite fighter such a competitive fight and then he returned to Atlantic City and beat a decent champion and showed immense grit and desire that time round.

But the frustrating injuries, repeated and clearly debilitating, stopped him from reaching his full potential and the way things unravelled against Sturm must surely disapppoint him. It was such a pity his body said 'no more' at the very point when he should have been reaping the benefits of so many years of hard work.

[Londonirish]

He's a Lovely Fella and will do well no matter what he turns his Hand to... best of Luck to him!!