Sergio Martinez To Return to the Ring on Oct. 1 vs. Darren Barker

Middleweight Ring champion and pound-for-pound superstar Sergio Martinez is set to defend his title once again on Oct. 1st against the unbeaten European champion Darren Barker, according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix. Barker is riding a 23-0 (14 KO) record and was recently looked at by the Chavez Jr. camp as a possible title defense opponent in September.

Barker is coming off of a UD victory over Domenico Spada to win the vacant EBU middleweight title prior to which he was coming off a year layoff.

Martinez has been on the lookout for an opponent ever since dismantling junior middleweight titlist Sergiy Dzinziruk, dropping him five times before stoppage in the eighth round. Since then, Martinez has become a high-risk, low-gain fighter.

Since Martinez delivered a devastating second-round knockout to Paul Williams, the amount of people who wish to step into the ring with him have shrunk. Sergio is left with little competition and is left to take on whoever is the best available person willing to fight.

As Martinez continues his dominance in the middleweight division, he’s also running out of challenging opponents to fight. Some names brought up to fight Martinez before offers were made included the likes of former Contender star Peter Manfredo Jr. and Nobuhiro Ishida, who was made famous by three knockdowns and a first-round knockout of previously unbeaten fighter James Kirkland.

Martinez’s manager, Lou DiBella, claimed that offers were made to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Daniel Geale, Miguel Cotto, Andy Lee and a rubber match with Paul “The Punisher” Williams. DiBella claimed that Martinez was ready to fight any one of those fighters if given the chance, but Barker is the only one who wanted to fight Martinez.

This only serves as proof that the amount of competition remaining in the middleweight division is slim. The only other fighter that he can fight to prove his dominance in the middleweight division is Felix Strum, who has a fight this summer to defend his WBA title against Matthew Macklin.

If Martinez wishes for a better level of competition, he needs to look no further than a weight division up who’s best fighters are about to finish Showtime’s super six tournament to determine who’s best. While this is one of the only matches that Lou DiBella was able to come up with doesn't mean that it’s the best fight available. 

The co-feature of this fight will include former Contender Brian Vera vs. Andy Lee. Brian Vera is known for being an underdog who isn't a stranger to upsetting the favorite and Lee is coming in looking to avenge his only loss from Vera.