Darren Barker would probably be the first to admit he's had a slow burning career so far.
Frankly this talented and affable middleweight has been very unfortunate after personal tragedy, injuries and promotional difficulties have stopped him from achieving his full potential.
But Barker appears to be given a fresh opportunity to climb towards world honours after signing up with Matchroom, who appear to be building a neat stable of fighters.
He recently had a spot in the Sky studio, which is always handy for raising your profile, while his name was plastered across the ring during Wednesday's nights Prizefighter: Super-Middleweights tournament.
Barker is back is after more than a year out of the ring and is taking on the decent Italian Domenico Spada (32-3) at the end of April for the vacant European belt, which Barker has already won before.
Interestingly enough, footage of George Groves sparring Spada can be found on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26PtVBs5iyQ.
Sparring is by no means the correct way to gauge proper professional fights but it's not hard to see Spada is a come-forward blitzer. He's perhaps a little predictable and easy to hit which is why Barker might be best advised sticking to his neat boxing skills, using a nice jab and moving in and out of range to befuddle Spada.
Make no mistake, Spada will be no pushover. He lost two apparently close points decisions for the Interim WBC Middleweight belt and his only other defeat was a split decision loss.
He brings experience and a fiery style to the ring but if Barker can shake off the rust and establish his jab he should be able to take control after the halfway point. With many pundits putting Barker on the fringes of the top 10 middleweights in the world, he has a lot to lose so should opt to play it safe and ride out a points victory.
Frankly this talented and affable middleweight has been very unfortunate after personal tragedy, injuries and promotional difficulties have stopped him from achieving his full potential.
But Barker appears to be given a fresh opportunity to climb towards world honours after signing up with Matchroom, who appear to be building a neat stable of fighters.
He recently had a spot in the Sky studio, which is always handy for raising your profile, while his name was plastered across the ring during Wednesday's nights Prizefighter: Super-Middleweights tournament.
Barker is back is after more than a year out of the ring and is taking on the decent Italian Domenico Spada (32-3) at the end of April for the vacant European belt, which Barker has already won before.
Interestingly enough, footage of George Groves sparring Spada can be found on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26PtVBs5iyQ.
Sparring is by no means the correct way to gauge proper professional fights but it's not hard to see Spada is a come-forward blitzer. He's perhaps a little predictable and easy to hit which is why Barker might be best advised sticking to his neat boxing skills, using a nice jab and moving in and out of range to befuddle Spada.
Make no mistake, Spada will be no pushover. He lost two apparently close points decisions for the Interim WBC Middleweight belt and his only other defeat was a split decision loss.
He brings experience and a fiery style to the ring but if Barker can shake off the rust and establish his jab he should be able to take control after the halfway point. With many pundits putting Barker on the fringes of the top 10 middleweights in the world, he has a lot to lose so should opt to play it safe and ride out a points victory.
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