[ScouseLeader]

I might be the only one here who would favour Barker to beat Gennady Golovkin, who so far in his pro career despite going undefeated and clearly winning all his contests has been fairly underwhelming due to the huge amateur pedigree he entered the pro ranks with. It's not even one of those cases where the fighter with the big amateur career is tailored to his old ways, in fact Golovkin is almost a completely different fighter. He's - dare I say it - regressed slightly as a professional, he's more cumbersome and clumsy and doesn't really create openings much any more.

I think Barker would beat him because of the success Kassim Ouma had against 'GGG', fighting a disciplined fight from the outside, lots of straight punches through that loose guard of Golovkins and constantly accelerating backwards with quick feet to keep out of the way of his bombs. Eventually Ouma tired, and was stopped but Golovkin was getting shown up a bit in that fight. Barker, whilst obviously not as resilient as Ouma is very well conditioned and I think could box on his toes and keep the pace for 12 rounds against Golovkin. I had the Barker/Martinez fight a draw before it ended in the 11th, and I think a similar gameplan to the one Barker used in that fight would allow him to outmanouvre Golovkin.

what say you? :think

 

[Michael]

Gennady Golovkin is massively overrated, but is Barker the man to take advantage of his flaws, no imo. Barker should be able to give him problems for a number of rounds, and outbox the slow footed and sometimes inactive Golovkin, but I only see it ending in one way, a GGG win by ko. Cant see Darren dealing with his power.

 

[Flea Man]

Golovkin would spark Barker IMO. Not big on Barker I'm afraid, even though I'm a fan.

 

[Chatty]

I think Barkers style would cause GGG a lot of problems at first but I think he would catch up with him in the latter rounds possibly getting the KO

 

[ScouseLeader]

Ah, so it seems to be the consensus that Barker would probably be ahead in the fight until late on, where he tires and Golovkin's excellent power shows through and he stops Darren?

It's hard to argue with that, to be honest.

I'd still fancy Barker though, myself. I mean, look how long a very efficient fighter like Martinez (with a hard, accurate punch) look to get to Barker. I'm not sure Golovkin punches with that kind of velocity to break Barker's guard and take him out, I think the difference in footspeed would allow Barker to evade getting caught much over the course of the fight to rule out the possibility of accumulative damage playing a role.

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way here, but I think Martinez is a level of 2 above Golovkin, and if Barker can show some comfort and ability in the ring against someone as good as him, he'd be in a good position against Golovkin. That's not always the best way to judge a fight, but it's a point of interest.

 

[Wallet]

I had the Barker/Martinez fight a draw before it ended in the 11th

Do you always score rounds to fighters for blocking punches?

 

[SJS20]

I'd pick Barker.

Very under rated. I think his jab would be the key.

 

[ScouseLeader]

Do you always score rounds to fighters for blocking punches?

Blow me, Wallet :yep

 

[MagicMan]

GGG would shit on his tits from what I've seen of him so far

 

[Indigo Pab]

Sports, I wrote out a response about 4/5 paragraphs long, and I've just deleted the thing. Fuck this.

In short, I think Golovkin would take it.

I'm actually gutted about this.

 

[ScouseLeader]

Sports, I wrote out a response about 4/5 paragraphs long, and I've just deleted the thing. Fuck this.

In short, I think Golovkin would take it.

I actually am gutted about this, believe it or not.

How long did it take? We've got all night :yep

 

[Indigo Pab]

I started it like a minute after my last post before this thread.

I'm really fucked off about this now.:lol: It's only like the 3rd time it's happened but it's no less crushing.

 

[Wallet]

IBarker, whilst obviously not as resilient as Ouma is very well conditioned and I think could box on his toes and keep the pace for 12 rounds against Golovkin.

Is he?

We've seen him fade in the late rounds against both Martinez and Affif B.

 

[Michael]

I started it like a minute after my last post before this thread.

I'm really fucked off about this now.:lol: It's only like the 3rd time it's happened but it's no less crushing.

If you right click and then press undo will it not come back, ive done it plenty of times when ive deleted a post by mistake?

 

[ScouseLeader]

I started it like a minute after my last post before this thread.

I'm really fucked off about this now.:lol: It's only like the 3rd time it's happened but it's no less crushing.

Shame, would have enjoyed some old school Pabby breakdown.

 

[Casual Benson's Unknown]

I agree that Golovkin is Overrated, and I think Barker is probably better than he sometimes gets credited for, but no way does he beat Golovkin imo, I do think it would be close and I don't think Golovkin stops him, but I can't see how Barker wins this.

 

[ScouseLeader]

Is he?

We've seen him fade in the late rounds against both Martinez and Affif B.

I wouldn't say he faded as such, but Martinez was setting a fast pace in those later rounds and banging in some hard shots. He's not the most conditioned boxer, but I wouldn't say it's a weak point.

 

[Indigo Pab]

If you right click and then press undo will it not come back, ive done it plenty of times when ive deleted a post by mistake?

Nah man, my internet connection cut out as I was making the post.

Gone.

Lost in the ether.

 

[ScouseLeader]

I agree that Golovkin is Overrated, and I think Barker is probably better than he sometimes gets credited for, but no way does he beat Golovkin imo, I do think it would be close and I don't think Golovkin stops him, but I can't see how Barker wins this.

Equally it was hard to see how Kassim Ouma could beat Golovkin but he came ever so close and I believe Barker could emulate that style to similar effect.

 

[Indigo Pab]

Essentially, I think what I've often - rightly - criticised Golovkin for would very much work in his favour for this match-up.

He doesn't punch in combination anywhere near as much as he should, and puts too much emphasis on finding openings with almost a kind of roundhouse hook, when he looks like he could actually just plant a few jabs down the middle and setup up for bigger and better things.

But if Barker comes with the same defensive strategy he did against Martinez(which there's no guarantee he would do, considering he never really fought in quite that way before, albeit it was just a slight extension of his style already)? Good. For GGG, that is. Martinez landed sparingly in that fight, but when he did land it was often around the guard as opposed to though it. Personally I don't think Barker really put the earmuffs on, more so kept his hands high and in front of his face, often leaving the side of his head vulnerable.

Martinez tried to draw his lead a lot of the time, and thus he couldn't really take advantage of this as much as I think GGG potentially could. He'll pressure Barker and/or leap in with his hooks rather than trying to make Barker walk onto them, which increases the possibility of him finding the target with them.

It'd more than likely be pretty close in rounds though. Golovkin hasn't got many facets to his game and despite displaying some nice subtle defensive maneuvers at times he doesn't really do it when he's going on the hunt, where he often gets caught out standing square on with his hands too low. So yeah I could see Barker taking a fair share of the rounds himself by letting some shots go when he's afforded some space to work in, rattling off combinations and finding some joy with his left uppercut in particular(Golovkin leans to that side a lot from what I've seen).

Ultimately though I think Golovkin himself would land a lot around the guard as well as clipping Barker numerous times when he backs up to the ropes with his hands by his waist. I don't agree with you that Barker is very well conditioned, even if you ignore the Martinez fight he still has a track record for fading and getting increasingly ragged late on(Belgecham, even against Spada this was evident imo), and importantly Golovkin has shown that he can carry his power into the later rounds. Thus I'm with Chatty on this one.