Bendall in last chance saloon against Barker by Tom Podmore Feb 21st 2008

Coventry's Steve Bendall admits that his Commonwealth middleweight title opportunity on Friday night (February 22) is his last chance to fulfil the expectations that were placed on his shoulders when he turned professional 11 years ago. The 34-year-old former English boss meets up-and-coming Darren Barker, 16-0 (10), in the 12-round main event on the Hennessy Sports and GoldenPalace.net-promoted, Sky-televised card at the York Hall this Friday and is confident of success. Bendall is aware that a defeat, or at least a one-sided one, in the capital will spell the end of his big-time aspirations in the sport. And he readily admits that he isn't ready to bring the curtain down on his career, knowing he has the talent to procure more titles. The Commonwealth 11st 6lbs belt would be the first tick on his checklist. But undefeated Barker, a 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist who completed the Commonwealth symmetry when winning this historic pro title against unbeaten Ben Crampton in November, won't be giving the belt up without a fight. He has aspirations for a unification fight with British champion Wayne Elcock later on in 2008. And the Tony Sims-trained fighter has been vocal in saying that he expects to have too much class: “Steve is a very experienced fighter with a good record. He's been in with some very good opponents and this will be an excellent learning fight for me. “But the last time he moved up in class, against Wayne Elcock at the end of 2006, he was soundly beaten. I can assure you things won't be any different in this contest.” Bendall, of course, lost his English title in eight painful rounds to the Birmingham puncher at the Aston Villa Events Centre 14 months ago and many felt that was it for him. But he has bounced back with three wins in the previous eight months and now feels ready to add a second major belt to his collection in this good-looking domestic dust-up. Even though the Tile Hill lefty was expected to win all three of the comeback contests, he showed that there was still some fight left in the old dog with some flashes of real class. He retired Davey Jones in two rounds, flattened Polish southpaw Andrejz Butowicz in eight and then outpointed another European portsider, durable Ukrainian Alexander Matviechuk, in November. The First Team-handled stylist feels those victories have breathed new life in to a professional journey that begun in 1997 and has seen him come out on top against solid fighters like Lee Blundell, Donovan Smillie, Mike Algoet, Ahmet Dottuev and Kreshnik Qato. Steve is now eager to start his 12th year as a paid fighter in the best possible fashion: “I'm super-confident of winning this fight on Friday night,” he said.” And I expect to be taking the Commonwealth belt back up the motorway with me to Coventry. “This is a contest that I have got to win. Tell you the truth, It is probably the last roll of the dice for me. I am desperate to succeed and don't want to go out of the sport without fulfilling the potential that I have had all along but yet to really show so far. “You get the impression sometimes that you're being looked ahead of, and I get that impression with this fight,” said the fired up former top-class amateur and holder of fringe WBU and IBO Intercontinental pro belts.” He is talking of a fight for the British and European straps, but he will have to get past me first. “Maybe I'm reading the signals wrong, but he'd better be taking my challenge really seriously. I'm coming down to London to win, to get my career back pointing in the direction I want it to. “This is a fight I know I have the talent to win.” And Bendall, 28-3 (14), can take a tremendous amount of heart and confidence from the respective performances with a dangerous common denominator, Wolverhampton's dynamite-fisted and tenacious Conroy McIntosh, two years ago. Bendall outboxed, decked and outpointed his fellow-Midlander by a score of 59-54 in Weston-Super-Mare – looking polished in doing so. Barker, however, was smashed to the canvas twice and hurt numerous times before coming out with a controversial seven-round stoppage three months earlier (July 2006). Interestingly, Black Country banger McIntosh, who has come up short in four attempts at title honours during his seven-year paid career, thinks the former England international amateur can emerge with his hand raised over the long-limbed Londoner on Friday evening. And due to the up-and-down nature of the contest with Conroy – as well as being semi-decked by returning Paul Samuels a few months later – there are serious question marks surrounding the 25-year-old Barnet-based fighter's ability to hold a solid shot. “I'm planning to put Barker's chin under some serious scrutiny. There are plenty of people in boxing who question his chin,” admitted the stiff-hitting former British and European title challenger,” and it does look as if it could be a serious chink in his armoury. "But Darren is a very good boxer, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester proved that, and seems to hit fairly hard. Barker, although an orthodox fighter, isn't too dissimilar in style to me. “That said, he can't be that big a puncher because he couldn't hurt his last opponent, a man who gave him plenty of free shots throughout the fight. But the Aussie took them and was never in trouble, though was outboxed for all 12 of the rounds.” Once again in a title challenge, like he had to against Scott Dann (Plymouth), Sebastian Sylvester (Germany) and Wayne Elcock (Birmingham), the tall Lee Ferrie-advised Coventry middleweight will have to concede home territory and go onto his opponent's show, fight in his opponent's hometown. Apprehensive about that, perhaps? "I'm not worried about going to his back yard, no. Although the atmosphere could be a bit hostile, I have done it a number of times in my career and pulled off some great wins in front of other fighter's home crowds. I even fought in South Africa once – a five-round KO over Ahmet Dottuev. "All I all want to do is concentrate on my own career, not think about me boxing on away ground. Everything has gone well in the gym and in the ring for me over the past seven or eight months, so I'm happy to get this fight on. But I will have around a 100 people cheering for me as well. “I would love to make a defence of the Commonwealth title at the Skydome in Coventry,” he said. That is another big incentive for me to perform and win when I meet Barker this week. “The fight being on Sky has also given me an extra boost and it will be great to be back on the television, to be boxing for a respected title. I plan to make my return to the screen a memorable one.”

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