On December 7, 2013, the 31-year-old IBF middleweight world champion, Darren Barker (26-1, 16 KOs), faced a 34-year-old German boxer Felix Sturm (38-4-2, 17 KOs), in a title defense fight.
Barker came in to the fight on a 3-fight win streak with a 59% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 3 months and 20 days. Sturm was on a 1-fight win streak with a 38% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 5 months and 1 day.
Felix Sturm made very easy work of Darren Barker, stopping the champion via TKO in the 2nd. Sturm improves his record to 39-4-2 (18 KOs), while Barker adds a loss to his record at 26-2.
On October 1, 2011, a 29-year-old Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KOs) got a shot at the middleweight The Ring title held by 36-year-old Argentinian boxer Sergio Martínez (47-2-2, 26 KOs).
Barker came in to the fight on a 23-fight win streak with a 60% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 5 months and 1 day. Martínez was on a 3-fight win streak with a 51% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 6 months and 19 days.
Sergio Martínez stopped Darren Barker via KO in the 11th round of the 12-round world-title fight, and successfully defended his The Ring middleweight title. Martínez improves his record to 48-2-2 (27 KOs), while Barker adds a loss to his record at 23-1.