DARREN BARKER vs DARREN McDERMOTT

Unbeaten middleweight Darren Barker sees himself as moving onto the world stage after his next two fights although he says he isn’t taking his opponents lightly.

On Saturday Barker defends his Commonwealth title against Darren McDermott. The bout is also a final eliminator for the British title held by Matthew Macklin. A fight between Barker and Macklin would be one of the most eagerly awaited all-British middleweight fights in a long time. McDermott stands in the way, though, and he is far from being a pushover.

One reason Barker feels so sure of himself is that he acquitted himself well in sparring with world 168-pound champs Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch. He believes he learned a lot in these sparring sessions, and in his last fight he gave one of his most impressive, hardest-hitting performances when he destroyed the game but outclassed Jason McKay in six rounds.

Speaking through his promoter, Mick Hennessy, this week, Barker said: “Obviously after I get my hands on the British title I’d love to move on to the European and world scene, but first things first and I’ve got two potentially dangerous domestic fights to take care of before I can leave the British scene behind.

“The middleweight division at world level is very open right now and I don’t see anything out there to worry me. When you spar guys like Froch and Kessler it shows you just what you need to compete at the highest level, and I honestly believe I’m capable of that.”

Barker has set high standards for himself, and now he has to go out and show he is as good as he says he is when he meets the tough and capable McDermott in a fight to be televised on ITV4 in Britain and on Super Channel in Canada.

McDermott was very unlucky in a previous title attempt when he suffered a badly cut cheekbone and was stopped in the second round by Wayne Elcock for the British championship. In most countries that would have been a “no decision”, as McDermott’s cut was caused by a clash of heads, but under British Boxing Board of Control rules, even if a cut comes from a collision a boxer loses if he is deemed unable to continue.

Since that unhappy night McDermott has won two bouts, including a career-best performance when he outpointed Steve Bendall, a seasoned southpaw who is well-regarded in Britain. However, Barker outclassed Bendall when they met in February of last year. It was stopped in seven rounds, officially due to a cut over Bendall’s eye, but Barker was beginning to land punches almost at will and it seemed unlikely that Bendall could have lasted much longer even if it hadn’t been for the cut.

Barker, 26, had an impressive amateur career, which included winning a Commonwealth Games gold medal and boxing in the 2003 world championships in Bangkok, where he defeated boxers from Japan and South Africa but lost to Andre Berto in the quarter finals — and he was leading on the electronic scoring against Berto before the U.S. boxer staged a strong finish in the final round.

McDermott is a tall, rangy, hard-working, tough fighter who punches well to the body, but Barker seems to be a higher class of boxer. Barker has the superior boxing skills and he seems to be a slightly harder puncher. To win this fight, McDermott will have to keep right on top of Barker, force the east Londoner out of his smooth-boxing style and beat him on grit, stamina and a busy-punching workrate. He could do it, because McDermott is a stubborn and tenacious fighter, but I think it much more likely that Barker will outbox him, landing jabs and sharp right hands and combinations, making McDermott miss and punishing him for mistakes.

Barker is going to have to fight, but I think he will have the answer for everything McDermott brings to the bout. McDermott is known to be well-conditioned and durable, so he will be hard to stop. Barker should be able to outpoint him convincingly, though — a stoppage win would be a striking statement by Barker.