By Andy Clark. Felix Sturm knocked Darren Barker down twice in the second round, before Barker’s corner stopped the fight with just under a minute remaining.
Sturm, a notorious slow starter of late, came flying out in round one, landing a couple of hurtful left hands within the first twenty seconds. Barker came back with shots of his own but on the whole, they were either out of range, or blocked by Sturms tight defense. Sturm pressed the action throughout round one and in the final minute landed several solid punches which appeared to hurt Barker.
Barker had a positive start to round two, forcing Sturm back for the only time of the fight. With just under two minutes remaining of the second round, Sturm landed a short right hand to the side of Barker’s head, which made Barker very unstable on his feet. Sturm immediately followed up with another big right hand, which sent Barker to the floor.
Barker made it back to his feet but was clearly in discomfort from what appeared to be a recurrence of an old hip injury. Barker bravely fought on but Sturm’s power and accuracy was too much for Barker, as a succession of hard punches culminated in Barker going down for a second time. As Barker lay on the canvas he gestured to his corner that there was a problem with his hip.
Barker again continued despite appearing to be a lot of pain, but the injury to his hip was too much. It made Barker an almost immobile fighter and Tony Sims, Barker’s trainer, threw in the towel with just under one minute remaining in the second round.
After the fight Sturm was gracious in victory and suggested he would be willing to give Barker a rematch in England. Whether Barker will be able to continue his boxing career remains to be seen, as it was confirmed after the fight that Barker had dislocated his hip in the first round.
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