By James Slater: Believe it or not (probably not, seeing as there is practically no chance of it actually happening), but 51-year-old former three-weight world ruler Iran Barkley says he wants to have “one or two more fights” before he is finally ready to walk away and call it quits.
I called Barkley up last week (Iran answered yet was “at a banquet” and didn’t have too much time to talk; nor did he sound as though was he in the best of moods), and he told me that he “ain’t retired,” and that he is currently training for one last comeback. Even more shockingly, the former 160-pound, 168-pound and 175-pound king told me he is aiming for a shot at reigning light-heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins!
“I’m in training, I’m getting in shape and I’m getting down [in weight],” Barkley, 43-19-1(27) told me. “I want a fight with Bernard Hopkins. I think he’ll look at my age and the time I’ve spent out of the ring and agree to fight me. I’ll knock him out, destroy him, and THEN I’ll retire.”
Had Barkley and B-Hop fought a number of years back (say around 1993, and at 168), the fight “might” have been interesting. And, in terms of a “dream-fight,” with a peak Barkley going up against a young, middleweight Hopkins, the fight could intrigue. But now? Well, not only will no commission sanction the fight (Barkley, his age and inactivity aside, is all but blind in one eye), but no-one in their right mind would give Barkley a million to one shot when it comes to winning.
Barkley, one of the toughest, most admirable fighters of the 1980s and ’90s, last fought in 1999 (up at heavyweight) and he last won a bout in 1998. Despite this, however, “The Blade” is unable to let boxing go. I recently saw some footage of Barkley on You Tube, the film showing him sparring for the first time in a long while (the footage was filmed in May of last year, at Gleason’s in New York, and a T-shirt-clad Barkley sparred a few rounds with a young fighter names Isaiah Gervais – Barkley looking strong but woefully out of shape and easy to hit).
I asked Iran about this session, and he merely answered that he’d be “doing more work” from now on, as he worked his way down to his one-time weight class of 175. It’s always sad when a past his best (way past his best in this case) former great is unable to walk away, still convinced he has one more fight left in him. Barkley, who is one of the nicest guys you could wish to meet, is an especially sad case.
Yet despite this, it’s impossible not to admire Barkley’s warrior instincts; even if we all know he’ll never fight again (legally, anyway). A true warrior is born, not created. No wonder Iran cannot simply flick a switch and turn his fighting instincts off – the ones that rescued him from poverty and gave him an identity in the first place.