Disappointing fight. Hearn pretty much admitted it is himself:
"Barker is going to be fighting Simone Rotolo, who lost to Sylvester a few years ago, but is a tough guy," said Hearn. "We spoke to Craig McEwan and the like, but we need to fight for a belt and Rotolo is ranked highly enough to fight for the IBF Intercontinental title [Rotolo is ranked at number 8 in the organisation's Intercontinental ratings].
"After making the Bellew and Miranda fight, we decided we didn't need to get Darren involved in a barnstormer because it would put pressure on him when he's fighting for the first time in nearly twelve-months and has just fought the best in the world [in Sergio Martinez]."
He added: "It is still a very competitive fight, so Darren has been working hard in the gym and with a new conditioning coach to really make a statement in this fight. It is difficult to match Darren because I want to give him a test, but don't want him to go life-and-death after so long out. People talk about the [Matthew] Macklin and [Martin] Murray fights, which they wanted to make for December, but that isn't the right time for Darren because he's been out for a year and needed this fight against a tough Italian to show what he's been working on."
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"Barker is going to be fighting Simone Rotolo, who lost to Sylvester a few years ago, but is a tough guy," said Hearn. "We spoke to Craig McEwan and the like, but we need to fight for a belt and Rotolo is ranked highly enough to fight for the IBF Intercontinental title [Rotolo is ranked at number 8 in the organisation's Intercontinental ratings].
"After making the Bellew and Miranda fight, we decided we didn't need to get Darren involved in a barnstormer because it would put pressure on him when he's fighting for the first time in nearly twelve-months and has just fought the best in the world [in Sergio Martinez]."
He added: "It is still a very competitive fight, so Darren has been working hard in the gym and with a new conditioning coach to really make a statement in this fight. It is difficult to match Darren because I want to give him a test, but don't want him to go life-and-death after so long out. People talk about the [Matthew] Macklin and [Martin] Murray fights, which they wanted to make for December, but that isn't the right time for Darren because he's been out for a year and needed this fight against a tough Italian to show what he's been working on."
Article Link - http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=55316#ixzz21WtNehRf
This is a legal waiver. By copying and using the material from this article, you agree to give full credit to BoxingScene.com or provide a link to the original article.
