Darren Barker

Darren Barker ( born May 19, 1982 in London ) is a British professional boxer.

Amateur career

As an amateur he won 55 of 68 fights and is winner of international tournaments, including the 52 Bocskai Tournament 2002 Debrecen, Hungary. In August 2002, he also won the gold medal in the light welterweight, at the 17th Commonwealth Games in Manchester. He sat down beside it through to the later successful professionals from Paul McCloskey Ireland, Sheldon Rudolph from Jamaica, Emmanuel Lartey from Ghana, Davidson Emenogu from Nigeria and Mohammed Kayongo from Uganda. In an international match against the United States in November of the same year, he narrowly lost against Timothy Bradley with 13:16.

In June 2003 he took part in the first European championships in Strasbourg, France, where he, however, in the quarter finals against the reigning European champions Bülent Ulusoy of Turkey was defeated on points. In July he started welterweight at the 12th World Championships in Bangkok, where he sat down in the first round against Koji Satō from Japan and in the second round against Kwanele Zulu from South Africa. In the subsequent quarter-final battle he lost against Andre Berto from the United States with nearly 22:24.

In February 2004, his participation still followed at the 35th European Championships in Pula, where he was beaten in the second round of the middleweight against Andy Lee of Ireland.

Professional career

In September 2004 he made ​​his professional debut and remained undefeated for over seven years. In November 2007 he won the principles laid down by Howard Eastman Commonwealth champion at middleweight belt, by a clear points victory against the unbeaten Australian Ben Crampton ( 20-0 ). In February 2008, he sat down superior to Steven Bendall ( 28-3 ) by after it had to be taken in the seventh round due to injury from the fight. After a unanimous points verdict against Larry Sharpe ( 22-4 ), he defended his title against Jason McKay still each prematurely (20-2 ) and Darren McDermott (16-1 ).

Then he should fight against Matthew Macklin for the British Championship, but Macklin put the title down to prepare for the European Championship. Instead, he should now compete for the now vacant title against Wayne Elcock, but even this retired shortly before the fight date. Ultimately, he fought in November 2009 against Danny Butler ( 18-2) for the title, defeating them by TKO in the seventh round.

In his very next fight on 9 April 2010, he won by unanimous decision against the French southpaw Affif Belghecham ( 19-4 ) and thus also won the European (EBU ) middleweight. After an injury-related break of one year, he secured 30 April 2011 the European Championship again by a points win over Domenico Spada ( 32-3 ).

On October 1, 2011, he boxed in Atlantic City against world ranked first Sergio Martínez ( 47-2 ), which he claimed good idea finally by Ko defeated in the eleventh round. In December 2012, he won the Intercontinental Championship IBF by TKO in the fourth round against former European champion Kerry Hope ( 18-4 ). In March 2013, he also won early against Simone Rotolo ( 35-3 ) from Italy, after he gave up the fight in the fourth round.

On August 17, 2013, got his second appearance in Atlantic City the chance to take up the IBF middleweight championship. He punched it against the strong Australian title holder Daniel Geale ( 29-1 ), which was led by Ring Magazine at number 2 in the world rankings behind Sergio Martínez. Barker had in the duel in the sixth round after a liver hook to the ground and suffered beyond a Cutverletzung the left eye, but the battle won almost at the end on points.

On December 7, 2013 he played his first title defense and punched it in Stuttgart against Felix Sturm ( 38-3 ). Already in the second round Barker went twice to the ground before his trainer threw in the towel and Darren Barker his title thus by TKO lost.

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