“I fought in front of 80,000 at Wembley but you wouldn’t get me swimming the English Channel”: Carl Froch hails Darren Barker after completing first leg of The Longest Round as “nervous” ex-IBF world champ hopes “warrior mindset” pulls him through swim
Former world champion Darren Barker is preparing for the toughest stage of The Longest Round, in support of CALM and in memory of Ricky Hatton.
Former IBF middleweight world champion Barker says he will call upon his “warrior mindset” as he prepares to swim the English Channel during an epic journey from Edinburgh to Morocco.
Barker has reached Dover after cycling from Scotland and is now waiting for the call to begin the Channel crossing as part of a three-man relay.
His swimming window runs from August 27 to September 3, with Barker potentially given only a few hours’ notice to enter the water. Depending on conditions, he could be swimming through the night while battling fatigue, jellyfish and the unforgiving Channel waters.
“Swimming the Channel is giving me mixed emotions at the minute,” Barker said. “Fear, excitement and nerves. But the overriding emotion is that I am relishing the challenge.
“It’s going to be tough. There are going to be lots of obstacles. It could be the first time I’ve swum at night. There will be jellyfish, I’ll be tired and then there’s the sea itself.
“But the bulk of my training has been swimming, so I’m looking forward to getting in there and showing how hard I have prepared for this.
“I do have that warrior mindset. I’ve proved in the past that I can dig in. Every stroke and every kick will take me closer, and I’ll keep proving that the fighter mentality never leaves you.”
Barker is taking on The Longest Round to raise money and awareness for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), in memory of his friend and boxing hero Ricky Hatton – who had been an ambassador of the charity.
Barker interviewed Hatton just five days before his death, an experience which he says left him determined to encourage more men to speak openly about their mental health.
“I feel like I owe this to Ricky,” Barker said. “He gave up his time to speak to me and I want to do something for him, but also for the bigger picture.
“I want people who are struggling to know that it’s OK not to be OK and to encourage them to have those uncomfortable conversations. Strength isn’t silence. Strength is speaking.”
Former super-middleweight world champion Carl Froch, who spent years training and sparring alongside Barker, admitted the Channel crossing is a challenge even he would not contemplate.
“I fought in front of 80,000 people at Wembley, but you wouldn’t get me swimming across the English Channel,” Froch said. “I’ve known Darren for almost my whole professional career and we did a lot of sparring together, so I know how tough he is. But this is something else.
“There’s no corner to go back to in the middle of the Channel. He’ll have to keep digging in for hours, and I know he will.
“Darren’s a good friend and I’m proud to support him. What happened to Ricky hit everyone in boxing hard. Darren had interviewed him only five days earlier, so I understand why this means so much to him.
“If this swim gets more men talking about their mental health and raises money for CALM, it deserves everyone’s support.”
Fellow boxing royalty Joe Calzaghe showed his support for Barker on Instagram, adding: “A big shout out to my man Darren Barker. An incredible journey you’re on – The Longest Round.
“Only you could have come up with that. Once a champion, always a champion. A great cause, a great charity – CALM. Listen brother, with you all the way and see you soon.”
The full challenge is expected to take Barker between three-and-a-half and four weeks, but he says its success will ultimately be measured by the conversations it starts.
