DARREN BARKER vs DANNY BUTLER

After the withdrawal at short notice of Wayne Elcock, Commonwealth middleweight champion Darren Barker meets replacement opponent Danny Butler at Brentwood, Essex on Saturday, with television coverage on ITV4 in the U.K.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call Barker versus Butler a mismatch, but it must come close to this description.

In his last fight, Butler lost a narrow points verdict to Darren McDermott, a fighter who was blown out in four rounds by Barker last May — and this is one time when I don’t think the formline is deceptive. Barker simply looks a class above Butler.

The undefeated Barker was a top-quality amateur (Commonwealth Games gold medallist, world championships quarter finalist) and his promoter, Mick Hennessy, sees him as a potential world beater.

Butler, a 22-year-old from Bristol in the west of England, has a respectable record of 18 wins and two losses. He was competitive in both defeats: unbeaten Martin Murray beat him by split decision in the Prizefighter middleweight tournament and Butler lost by one point to McDermott when a knockdown cost him a draw. Barker, though, represents a massive step up in class.

In Butler’s biggest win, he showed grit to weather a rocky patch and rally to beat the hard-hitting veteran Paul Samuels. Butler moved well, showed a good variety of punches and frequently backed up Samuels on the ropes and outworked him.

The fight with McDermott was just a little bit beyond Butler’s ability, although not by much. Now he meets the fighter who dominated and stopped McDermott. As if this wasn’t daunting enough, Butler is boxing just two weeks after the hard-fought 10-rounder with McDermott.

I admire Butler’s willingness to step into the breach and test himself against the best fighter he has ever faced, and I think that his spirit and busy-punching style will keep him in the bout at least up to the halfway stage. Barker, though, should begin to impose his authority with his jabs, right hands through the middle and combinations. Butler has stopped only three opponents in his 20 bouts, whereas Barker is one of those sharp, snappy punchers. Barker should, then, be the one who is doing the significant damage in the exchanges, and I think that the referee will probably be ready to rescue a game but outclassed Butler somewhere around the eighth round.