Dazzling Darren Barker defeated Daniel Geale for the IBF Middleweight Championship. Dazzling? According to Dictionary.com, the word dazzle means “to impress deeply, to astonish with delight” or “to excite admiration by brilliance.” Was I dazzled by Darren Barker? Simple answer, no. But Barker does reveal one thing in the sport of boxing, determination is still a factor. It was clear from early in the fight that Barker was determined to win. Even when being battered, he stuck to his game plan and never backed down. It might not have been Barker’s brilliant boxing skills that won him the fight, but nonetheless, he persevered and walked away with the title.

Neither Barker nor Geale would stand out as flashy boxers. There really is nothing about either fighter’s style that grabs the attention of the casual boxing fan. What the two fighters do offer and what they treated the crowd at Revel and the television audience to is a good old-fashion style fight. This made it hard to score the fight and just as hard to determine who would walk away the winner.

In the first round, Geale came out as the aggressor, looking to land early and prove himself to Barker. The two were trading shots in the center of the ring for much of the early part of the round. Then Barker landed a several hard shots, possibly stealing the round from Geale. Barker kept up the pressure in the second round, backing Geale to the ropes. Geale was still very much in the fight, landing several combinations, one right before the bell. The third round found both fighters trading in the center of the ring with neither totally dominating the round. Barker landed several to the body of Geale, but Geale came right back, returning the same to Barker.

There seemed to be a slight shift in the fourth round. Barker and Geale again were fighting toe to toe. Barker backed Geale to the ropes, landing several shots. Geale spun around, freeing himself from the ropes and putting Barker on the ropes. Then Geale landed a low blow. Although Barker ironically was warned for the low shot, it did seem to increase his determination. Barker landed an upper cut and followed up with a combination.

The momentum from the fourth round did not carry through the rest of the fight. Geale was able to drop Barker in the sixth round with a left hook. Barker survived the count. Geale was on the offensive, looking to end the fight. He backed Barker to the ropes. However, Barker dug down deep inside himself and landed two powerful shots and once again found himself on the offensive. The next three rounds found the two fighters going back and forth. At times Geale seemed to be controlling the round, but then Barker would come back, often with the harder shots. In the tenth round, Barker landed a hard right.

In the final two rounds, both fighters appeared to be exhausted. Barker started to keep some distance from Geale in the eleventh. Both were slowing. Barker, however, did appear confident at the end of the twelfth round, throwing his arms into the air before the bell. A bewildered Geale stood there, rather than capitalizing on that mistake or arrogance. Could Geale have knocked out Barker in the last few seconds? The world will never know. Barker won by split decision with scores of 116-111 and 114-113. One judge had it 114-113 for Geale.

One thing that gave Barker the edge was that he never let the pressure off of Geale. He stayed in close to Geale throughout the majority of the fight. This allowed Barker to land effective shots, but also put him in danger throughout the fight. Dazzling? Maybe not. But definitely determined.
 

While Barker and Geale gave us an exciting fight, Kiko Martinez stole the show in his win against Jhonatan Romero. Kiko Martinez of Spain, who shares the same trainer as Sergio Martinez of Argentina, fought what looked like an uphill battle to win the IBF Super Bantamweight title. What Martinez lacked in height and reach, he made up for in his plan of attack.

From the first round, Martinez determined the pace of the fight. Martinez was the aggressor, and Romero seemed to be fighting a defensive fight. Martinez came inside early and backed Romero to the ropes. When Romero got off the ropes, Martinez chased him across the ring and into the opposite corner. Romero simply could not get off the ropes in that first round.

Romero and his corner knew that they had to change their plan, so when Romero came out in the second round, he moved side to side to try to stay out of reach of Martinez. While this effectively lessened the attack coming from Martinez, Romero had trouble landing shots. He did, however, land several shots in the center of the ring. Romero tried to keep this up in the third round. Martinez was have some difficulty cutting off the ring. But then, Martinez knocked Romero back. Martinez was able to land several shots with Romero on the ropes right before the bell.

The fourth round started with the two trading back and forth. Martinez quickly cut off the ring and battered Romero from one side of the ring to the next. By the end of the round, Romero had a cut and some swelling on his left eye, due to an accidental head-butt. Accident or not, these things do affect fights. Romero was throwing more in the opening of the fifth round, but Martinez once again was able to stalk him down and put him back against the ropes. The fight was over by the sixth round. Martinez once again put Romero on the ropes. Romero landed a few nice shots early in the round, but then Martinez caught him in the corner. Martinez landed a flurry of shots. Romero moved to his right, trying to get free from the onslaught but Martinez never let up. Romero was having trouble answering, only landing a few weak and inaccurate blows. Martinez kept up the pressure, moving half way around the ring and landing blow after blow before referee David Fields stopped the fight. Although Martinez looked as though he should be the underdog, shorter in height and reach than Romero, he managed to control the tempo of the entire fight, allowing him to take the belt from the champion.

I would like to start this section on the undercard with an aside. I have always been a fan of the late Burt Sugar. I have had the privilege of speaking with him on a few occasions. We even had an interesting conversation on cigars, both of us being big fans of a good cigar. But what I really want to say about him is that I always envied the fact that he never got to the fight before a co-main event. Of course, I am speaking in the time that I knew him. I was never sure of the reason for this, but I would like to venture a guess. Maybe he was tired, as I am, of having really bad fights shoved down my throat during the non-televised undercard.

For most of the evening, before the cameras started rolling, Ovation Hall in the Revel Casino was probably less than 25% full. There are a couple of reasons for this. As I have already alluded to, the undercard was bad. But there really is no way that the people in Atlantic City would have known this before the fights began. The other reason is that promoters do not respect the local fans. With the exception of Frankie Figueroa from the Bronx, there were no local fighters, and by local I mean from Atlantic City, Philadelphia, or New York City. I have always been a believer that all sports are local. We route for a team because we feel a connection, and the majority of the time that connection is bonded through locality. The same can be often said about individual sports like boxing. We like to see our local boxers, even if they lose.

With all that being said, I will give the results of the undercard:

Lightweight Jonathan Maicelo defeated Jose Alejandro Rodriguez in a ten round fight that had all the excitement of a single round, just spread out through all ten. Neither fighter seemed willing to commit. But in the tenth and final round, Maicelo threw a straight right and Rodriguez went down. The fight was stopped by the referee, giving Maicelo the TKO.

Junior Welterweight Thomas Dulorme won by TKO against Frankie Figueroa. Figueroa went down several times during the fight, although the majority of them were due to low blows. Maybe this had something to do with the fact that Figueroa seemed unwilling to commit himself in the fight. Dulorme seemed to have little trouble in getting the victory.

Junior Welterweight Yordenys Ugas had little trouble defeating John Williams. Ugas controlled the majority of the fight, and even with a point deducted from Ugas the scores clearly reflected this: 98-91, 98-91, and 99-90.

Featherweight Joel Brunker won by unanimous decision against Mike Oliver. Oliver spent the entire fight on the ropes, in what might possibly have been his strategy. However, it did not impress the judges. All three judges scored the fight 78-74.

I always thought that undercards were designed to generate excitement before the main event. The truth is that it has been quite some time since I have seen an exciting undercard at a major boxing event in Atlantic City. Please, I am begging you, the promoters, to give us an undercard worthy of this city’s great history in boxing