Sergio Martinez and Darren Barker
Sergio Martinez vs. Darren Barker was a Middleweight fight for The Ring title. The fight took place in Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States on 1 October 2011. Barker, the European champion, was certainly not the first choice for Martinez, various other potential opponents turned down overtures for a bout against him. Promoter Lou DiBella offered the fight with Martinez to titleholders Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Daniel Geale as well as junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto and Paul Williams, for a rubber match. Martinez said he was willing to face Cotto at middleweight or drop down to junior middleweight to fight him, but Cotto continues to ignore the fight.
Martinez won 2 world titles in April 2010 with a unanimous decision over Kelly Pavlik. Martinez made his first defense in spectacular fashion on Paul Williams by knocking him unconscious with one punch. In his second defense, Martinez laid a beating on junior middleweight titlist Sergiy Dzinziruk, HBO's preferred opponent who moved up in weight for the opportunity. Martinez dropped him five times en route to a lopsided eighth-round knockout on March 12. And because Martinez faced Dzinziruk instead of mandatory challenger Sebastian Zbik (whom HBO rejected for Martinez but accepted for Chavez), the WBC stripped Martinez and elevated Zbik to its titleholder. Zbik then lost the belt to Chavez on June 4 by majority decision.
Barker won the vacant EBU middleweight title with a unanimous decision win over France's Affif Belghecham on April 9, 2010. However, he was then the victim of a cowardly street attack in June 2010 after he tried to prevent a scuffle. This event, coupled with a chronic hip-problem, left him inactive for over a year as he recovered from the assault and underwent hip surgery. Barker returned to ring on April 30, 2011, once again winning the vacant EBU middleweight crown with a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over Italy's Domenico Spada.
Martinez defeated Barker via Knockout at 1:29 of the eleventh round. Barker had some success early in the fight, landing some jabs and a few straight rights that broke Martinez's nose in the fourth round. But from the fifth round on, Martinez dominated the fight behind three- and four-punch flurries that left Barker covering up for most of the bout.
Through 10 rounds, judges Lynn Carter (96-94), Victor Loughlin (97-94) and Alejandro Roche (99-91) all had Martinez ahead.
In this TV special, Sissy interviews both fighters for the press conference held at New York's famed Palm Restaurant just days before the fight. Other boxing personalities and athletes Sissy interviews include Sergio Martinez, Darren Barker, Andy Lee, Brian Vera and more.
Don't miss this exciting new special which will lead to next week's episode of Sissy at Atlantic City for the actual fight itself Friday night 7:30pm EST on MNN Channel 56 Time Warner Cable Manhattan and our website www.thesissygamacheshow.com
