Darren Barker believes he will land the vacant European middleweight title by knocking out Affif Belghecham on Friday.
Unbeaten ace warns Belghecham
Unbeaten British ace Darren Barker believes he will knock out Affif Belghecham to claim the vacant European middleweight title on Friday.
The pair clash for the title at the Alexandra Palace in London after injured holder Matthew Macklin recently relinquished the belt.
Barker has a 21-0 (14ko) record going into the fight, which includes dropping the durable Darren McDermott in just four rounds, while he also handed a first career stoppage to the ever-game Danny Butler.
The unbeaten British and Commonwealth middleweight champion now believes he can hand out the same treatment to tough French middleweight champion Belghecham, who recently took top Irish prospect Andy Lee all the way before losing on points.
Power
Barker said: "I think I can knock this guy out, I really do. My power is really starting to sting opponents as McDermott and Butler would both testify."
The British ace skipped the Easter eggs ahead of the bout and is looking forward to putting the European belt around his waist.
He added: "I love chocolate like everyone else, but that European title victory will be sweet enough for me this month and I definitely won't mind it going straight on my hips.
"The opportunities are arriving and I intend to grab them with both fists."
He is being backed to win the contest by stablemate and reigning unbeaten WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch.
Froch, who is currently in camp preparing for his own bout against Mikkel Kessler on April 24, said: "I've known Darren Barker a long time and he is a very good boxer.
Stamp
"The middleweight division is very deep at world level but I believe Barker can put his stamp on the weight class.
"Anyone can see Darren has got very good technical skills and take it from me, he can also get tough when he needs to.
"He's got a very good boxing brain and he has that important mindset that you need when fighting on the big stage.
"I wouldn't pick anyone against him, he is that good."
