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Martinez made to sweat by Barker before late KO

Darren Barker couldn't cause an upset against Sergio Martinez © PA Photos

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Darren Barker demonstrated his pedigree with a brave display against WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio Martinez before eventually succumbing to an 11th round knock-out.

Barker, considered by many across the Atlantic to be a massive underdog ahead of the fight, caught fans inside Boardwalk Hall by surprise with his boxing in the early rounds - even breaking his Argentine opponent's nose with a strong shot in the fourth round.

But Martinez recovered as the contest went on and soon began to control proceedings, eventually stopping matters in the penultimate stanza with a straight right that he had been trying to work all night.

"I can't remember the punch," Barker said afterwards. "I can't remember. I remember my legs just fell from under me. I was trying to get up, but couldn't. I didn't feel he was a massive puncher before that."

The knockout decided matters but in truth by then Martinez had already done enough to secure the victory, the 36-year-old leading on all three judges' scorecards - 99-91, 97-94 and 96-94 - at the time of the ten-count.

Nevertheless, it was a positive display from Barker - who actually enjoyed the better of the early exchanges and probably led on the scorecards by the end of the fourth round, which saw Martinez return to his corner with a bloodied nose. But Martinez responded almost immediately - amending his tactics slightly and focusing on three and four-punch flurries that pushed Barker onto the back foot and allowed the champion to dominate.

By the tenth round Barker was clearly struggling to stay in the contest, and with just under 90 seconds left in the 11th round he was finally counted out after taking one flush punch too many.

"I always get a second wind," said Martinez, who will once again target a meeting with either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jnr. "We trained for that. It was part of our game plan going in.

"We knew we would get stronger as the fight went on."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.