Barnet's Darren Barker (pictured) topped the bill in Brentwood on Saturday night in a comfortable seventh round victory over young Bristolian Danny Butler who stepped in at the last minute as a late replacement for Wayne Elcock (picking up £12,000 for a tough night's work). Fight fans watching live on ITV4 were denied an intriguing fight between unbeaten Barker - a former Commonwealth Games gold medalist - and Birmingham's Elcock. In the end, Barker looked composed and classy and controlled the fight from start to finish. Butler's brave effort ended in the seventh round and Barker improved his record to 21-0 taking the vacant British middleweight title in the process (a belt once held by the likes of Alan Minter and Randy Turpin).
The pick of the undercard was local Finsbury Park favourite Yassine El- Maachi who toyed with his opponent - the Latvian bulldog Spitko - for a couple of rounds before finishing him off in style in the third. El Maachi, who lived up to his nickname 'the showman', delighted his traveling support and helped celebrate Eid ("We killed a sheep", he told Jim Rosenthal after the fight) with a thoroughly entertaining, if a little unorthodox, demolition job.
El Maachi looked in great shape and is a likable guy (Barry McGuigan is a fan) but complained after the contest that he can't get anyone to fight him. He's only just taken on a trainer and he doesn't have a manager or a promoter but with a few more fights like this one on the telly someone's bound to give him the chance he deserves. A right-handed south paw, he's in possession of a ferocious, whipping left hook which did for Spitko on Saturday. Modeling himself on Prince Naseem, he keeps his hands low and likes to showboat, he's built up a small but dedicated following (me included) but at 30 he needs to start getting the big fights if he's ever going to get a shot at a European title. Watch this space.
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