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Brave Barker attempts to conquer Martinez mountain

There are suspicions that Sergio Martinez is looking to the future, and has taken his eye off Darren Barker © PA Photos

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Darren Barker fights Sergio Martinez for the WBC Diamond middleweight title in Atlantic City on Saturday, and we've got the lowdown on the clash...

Steve Bunce: Barker boosted by Martinez miscalculation

Darren Barker stands on the verge of the biggest night of his career, a world title fight against Sergio Martinez - but four years ago, following the death of his brother Gary in a road accident, he contemplated abandoning the sport entirely.

"I'll never forget the moment I walked into that hospital room and my dad told me we'd lost Gary," he told Boxing News earlier this year. "I punched the wall, busting my knuckles. But that was nothing like the pain inside. I didn't box for the next nine months. I went off the rails to be honest.

"After a while I went to the gym. I started crying and [trainer] Tony Sims said, 'You can't do this.' Boxing is such a lonely business. It's the loneliest sport in the world. There are times when you're training and you leave the gym and no-one really understands what you're been through. But Gary, being a fighter, understood. I'd tell him when I was having a nightmare and just talking to him was a release. That was taken away from me - along with Gary."

Following a period of soul searching, he rediscovered his love for a sport which he admits is "all I've ever been good at" - but there were further setbacks to come. First there was the hip injury that left him unable to run for two years, and has meant just two fights in the last 22 months.

Then, in summer 2010, he was left bloodied and unconscious in the street after being attacked by a gang of up to ten men, having tried to defuse an altercation.

The traumas could have sent him spiralling again - yet he stayed resilient, always motivated by the dream of becoming a world champion. And now the warrior who has never shirked a challenge faces his biggest to date: Martinez, the veteran Argentinean often described as the third-best pugilist in the world.

There were easier fights for him at middleweight - but Barker, perhaps feeling that nothing else would do after so much heartache, perhaps feeling his hip problem was a timebomb, went for the No. 1. "If you fight for a world title you want to be fighting the best in the world, you don't want any question marks over your win," he told ESPN. "You fight the [other] world champions and people will say: 'Yeah, he's one of the best - but you ain't fought Martinez'."

You could search all day before finding anyone who gives Barker even a small chance of victory - and the bookmakers, with all their trademark brutality, have made him a 9/1 outsider. Yet because he sees something of himself in Martinez, and because he knows his bravery will never betray him, he believes he has concocted a strategy that will prompt one of the all-time shocks.

"I think he's got the sort of character I have," Barker said. "We let our fists do the talking. As far as personality goes, we're not into trash talking and all that business, we're all about making it count on the night.

Barker, a two-time European champion, has never been in such exalted company before © PA Photos

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"It's important for me to nullify what he does well. He's got a loose style, he's very elusive and he can whack a bit if you're there to be hit. It's important for me to match him for hand speed, make sure I'm elusive and don't just walk forward with my chin up in the air like a few of his opponents have done.

"He keeps his hands down low, he's not a massive middleweight, and he's come up through the weights. I'm the bigger man here so it's all about using my size. For my size, I can move well, with quick hands, so I think that'll really frustrate him on Saturday."

Although the technical side will be important, Barker knows that he stands to benefit if Martinez's mental sharpness has been dulled. And there are signs he is underestimating Barker, by already discussing who he wants to face two or three fights down the line.

"If he's overlooking me it could be dangerous, because I'm so hungry," Barker said. "I want this so badly, I'm going to do everything I can. Somewhere there he's subconsciously looking past me a little bit."

You can count on two things in Atlantic City: firstly, that Barker won't be humiliated, because he's far too brave a man and too shrewd a tactician for that. It's hard to envisage that he will leave the ring with his reputation in tatters, facing the prospect of starting all over again.

And if he proves he belongs in Martinez's company, then even in defeat there will be glory, just as there was earlier this year when Matthew Hatton heard the final bell against Mexican prodigy Saul Alvarez. Hatton was battered, outclassed from the first few seconds onwards - but his bravery sustained him, and the bout was the making of him as a fighter.

But Barker isn't thinking about losing, it's not in his nature - and if he does beat Martinez, then he will be on the fast track to superstar status. "It would propel me into stardom," he said. "The start of a new chapter."

After all the pain he's been forced to endure, no-one would object to him writing a new page in the history books with a triumph on Saturday.

Darren Barker is a Lonsdale sponsored athlete. www.lonsdale.com

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