BoxRec

Arnie may have been limited, but he had a lot of bottle in the ring. I think it was always a long road back for him after Takaloo knocked him out in one round.

I notice things have suddenly gone very quiet on this one. Could Dioufy or Wellington please give us an update or confirm if this fight is actually going to happen?

It would be great if it does and after Guzman v Arthur being called off, we could do with a lift.

When things go quiet, it's never a good sign.

I wonde,r why not just go for Smichet?

I'm wondering if the reason for the delay in announcing this fight that Mick Hennessy is negotiating a deal with ITV. It would make sense with the Amir Khan deal about to expire. Carl Froch and Junior Witter could be shown on ITV1 and Darren Barker, John Murray and Wayne Elcock could be showcased on ITV4. Hennessy would then be in a great position to attract some of the amateur stars from the Beijing Olympics to turn professional with him. I think it will be better for the likes of Frankie Gavin, Billy Joe Saunders James Degale etc to sign with Hennessy Sports. With the exception of Amir Khan, most of allegedly's prospects have to turn pro and for years be fighting at 5:30pm slots at the bottom of huge bills in front of big empty venues with little or no exposure. Mick Hennessy knows how to build and market fighters up from amateur to professional. Look at the job he has done on Carl Froch.

Any news on Darren Barker's next fight?

Kofi Jantuah is a big "name" step up, and looking at his record, it will be a tremendous win if Barker pulls it off.

LOL

If it is Jantuah, let me be the first to predict that Barker is going to be knocked into next week.

I'll always remember Jantuah's win over Marco Antonio Rubio. One of the most shocking and unexpected knockouts I've ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oi5uqwc0m4

Riddick Blowe wrote:LOL

If it is Jantuah, let me be the first to predict that Barker is going to be knocked into next week.

Lol, serious.

scrap iron wrote:I'm wondering if the reason for the delay in announcing this fight that Mick Hennessy is negotiating a deal with ITV. It would make sense with the Amir Khan deal about to expire. Carl Froch and Junior Witter could be shown on ITV1 and Darren Barker, John Murray and Wayne Elcock could be showcased on ITV4. Hennessy would then be in a great position to attract some of the amateur stars from the Beijing Olympics to turn professional with him. I think it will be better for the likes of Frankie Gavin, Billy Joe Saunders James Degale etc to sign with Hennessy Sports. With the exception of Amir Khan, most of allegedly allegedly's prospects have to turn pro and for years be fighting at 5:30pm slots at the bottom of huge bills in front of big empty venues with little or no exposure. Mick Hennessy knows how to build and market fighters up from amateur to professional. Look at the job he has done on Carl Froch.

Froch is 30, a total unknown and hasn't engaged in a single meaningful fight ...

charlieb wrote:

scrap iron wrote:I'm wondering if the reason for the delay in announcing this fight that Mick Hennessy is negotiating a deal with ITV. It would make sense with the Amir Khan deal about to expire. Carl Froch and Junior Witter could be shown on ITV1 and Darren Barker, John Murray and Wayne Elcock could be showcased on ITV4. Hennessy would then be in a great position to attract some of the amateur stars from the Beijing Olympics to turn professional with him. I think it will be better for the likes of Frankie Gavin, Billy Joe Saunders James Degale etc to sign with Hennessy Sports. With the exception of Amir Khan, most of allegedly allegedly allegedly's prospects have to turn pro and for years be fighting at 5:30pm slots at the bottom of huge bills in front of big empty venues with little or no exposure. Mick Hennessy knows how to build and market fighters up from amateur to professional. Look at the job he has done on Carl Froch.

Froch is 30, a total unknown and hasn't engaged in a single meaningful fight ...

Agreed. Carl is a virtual nobody outside of Nottingham.

charlieb wrote:

scrap iron wrote:I'm wondering if the reason for the delay in announcing this fight that Mick Hennessy is negotiating a deal with ITV. It would make sense with the Amir Khan deal about to expire. Carl Froch and Junior Witter could be shown on ITV1 and Darren Barker, John Murray and Wayne Elcock could be showcased on ITV4. Hennessy would then be in a great position to attract some of the amateur stars from the Beijing Olympics to turn professional with him. I think it will be better for the likes of Frankie Gavin, Billy Joe Saunders James Degale etc to sign with Hennessy Sports. With the exception of Amir Khan, most of allegedly allegedly allegedly's prospects have to turn pro and for years be fighting at 5:30pm slots at the bottom of huge bills in front of big empty venues with little or no exposure. Mick Hennessy knows how to build and market fighters up from amateur to professional. Look at the job he has done on Carl Froch.

Froch is 30, a total unknown and hasn't engaged in a single meaningful fight ...

He's twice this year tried to fight Denis Inkin, but Inkin has pulled out on both occasions. He's become Joe Calzaghe's mandatory challenger, but Joe has chosen to vacate the WBC title rather then face him. Hardly Carl's fault then.........

Gray-Fox wrote:

charlieb wrote:

scrap iron wrote:I'm wondering if the reason for the delay in announcing this fight that Mick Hennessy is negotiating a deal with ITV. It would make sense with the Amir Khan deal about to expire. Carl Froch and Junior Witter could be shown on ITV1 and Darren Barker, John Murray and Wayne Elcock could be showcased on ITV4. Hennessy would then be in a great position to attract some of the amateur stars from the Beijing Olympics to turn professional with him. I think it will be better for the likes of Frankie Gavin, Billy Joe Saunders James Degale etc to sign with Hennessy Sports. With the exception of Amir Khan, most of allegedly allegedly allegedly allegedly's prospects have to turn pro and for years be fighting at 5:30pm slots at the bottom of huge bills in front of big empty venues with little or no exposure. Mick Hennessy knows how to build and market fighters up from amateur to professional. Look at the job he has done on Carl Froch.

Froch is 30, a total unknown and hasn't engaged in a single meaningful fight ...

Agreed. Carl is a virtual nobody outside of Nottingham.

.....but this Saturday Carl will be fighting in front of his biggest TV audience on primetime ITV1 and Showtime to broadcast his fight on delay in America.

Riddick Blowe wrote:LOL

If it is Jantuah, let me be the first to predict that Barker is going to be knocked into next week.

Would you be happier if Darren did an Amir Khan and fought the middleweight equivalent of Michael Gomez?

At least Darren is wanting to have some tough testing fights.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't scrap iron.

Will be nothing but impressed if Barker takes a fight like this at this stage of his career. Should be the norm not an exception to the rule

I will be very impressed if he takes the fight. i always respect fighters.

All I offered was my prediction, which happened to be that Barker gets KO'd. What's wrong with that exactly?

Riddick Blowe wrote:I will be very impressed if he takes the fight. i always respect fighters.

All I offered was my prediction, which happened to be that Barker gets KO'd. What's wrong with that exactly?

Fair point, but the LOL suggest you think Barker would be wrong in taking this match. What I was asking is if you thought he would be better off doing an Amir Khan and taking on an opponent who is naturally smaller, five years past his best and with eight losses on his record.

Darren has shown a lot of guts in and out of the ring since his brother's death and I think this shows just how much heart he does have by wanting to take on people like Kofi Jantuah even if the match doesn't come off.

Hennessey appears to be ready to give Barker a terrific learning curve. Barker already has the belt to do this - the Commonwealth title. It's not often we see a Brit get matched vs dangerous tests so I say without reserve that I want Barker to pass every test.

Jantuah is a punmcher and Barker has been down but I think Darren has got his defence all sorted out and his well rounded boxing & youth hopefully would be the decider.

Barker has shown good economy and boxing skills in the last fight and an excellent workrate and drive in the one before. Since his "comeback" vs Barton he's looked sharp and driven as if he is ready to make up lost ground.

scrap iron wrote:

charlieb wrote:

scrap iron wrote:I'm wondering if the reason for the delay in announcing this fight that Mick Hennessy is negotiating a deal with ITV. It would make sense with the Amir Khan deal about to expire. Carl Froch and Junior Witter could be shown on ITV1 and Darren Barker, John Murray and Wayne Elcock could be showcased on ITV4. Hennessy would then be in a great position to attract some of the amateur stars from the Beijing Olympics to turn professional with him. I think it will be better for the likes of Frankie Gavin, Billy Joe Saunders James Degale etc to sign with Hennessy Sports. With the exception of Amir Khan, most of allegedly allegedly allegedly allegedly's prospects have to turn pro and for years be fighting at 5:30pm slots at the bottom of huge bills in front of big empty venues with little or no exposure. Mick Hennessy knows how to build and market fighters up from amateur to professional. Look at the job he has done on Carl Froch.

Froch is 30, a total unknown and hasn't engaged in a single meaningful fight ...

He's twice this year tried to fight Denis Inkin, but Inkin has pulled out on both occasions. He's become Joe Calzaghe's mandatory challenger, but Joe has chosen to vacate the WBC title rather then face him. Hardly Carl's fault then.........

Fair play as far as the Inkin bout goes, but what was the problem before that?

He's already 30 for god's sake. What's he done so far? What's Hennessy done for him? Not a whole lot in retrospect.

Compare his progress with that of Haye who's already had to regroup and reclimb the ladder after a loss and it make's Froch look positively stationary given that their timelines ran parrallel at one point.

British champ after 6 years as a pro. That's awful given his potential.

charlieb wrote:

scrap iron wrote:

charlieb wrote: Froch is 30, a total unknown and hasn't engaged in a single meaningful fight ...

He's twice this year tried to fight Denis Inkin, but Inkin has pulled out on both occasions. He's become Joe Calzaghe's mandatory challenger, but Joe has chosen to vacate the WBC title rather then face him. Hardly Carl's fault then.........

Fair play as far as the Inkin bout goes, but what was the problem before that?

He's already 30 for god's sake. What's he done so far? What's Hennessy done for him? Not a whole lot in retrospect.

Compare his progress with that of Haye who's already had to regroup and reclimb the ladder after a loss and it make's Froch look positively stationary given that their timelines ran parrallel at one point.

British champ after 6 years as a pro. That's awful given his potential.

...........Carl actually won the British title in 2004, so that is British Champion after two years as a pro.

scrap iron wrote:

charlieb wrote:

scrap iron wrote: He's twice this year tried to fight Denis Inkin, but Inkin has pulled out on both occasions. He's become Joe Calzaghe's mandatory challenger, but Joe has chosen to vacate the WBC title rather then face him. Hardly Carl's fault then.........

Fair play as far as the Inkin bout goes, but what was the problem before that?

He's already 30 for god's sake. What's he done so far? What's Hennessy done for him? Not a whole lot in retrospect.

Compare his progress with that of Haye who's already had to regroup and reclimb the ladder after a loss and it make's Froch look positively stationary given that their timelines ran parrallel at one point.

British champ after 6 years as a pro. That's awful given his potential.

...........Carl actually won the British title in 2004, so that is British Champion after two years as a pro.

I think he means STILL British champ.

Number one contender with the WBC six months after David Haye would be another way of looking at it.

He'd have happily gone to the ageing champions backyard to fight him too.