Iran Barkley

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Iran Barkley (born May 6, 1960 in Bronx, New York) was an American boxer.

Known as "The Blade", Barkley fought in several of the defining fights in the late 1980's and early 1990's in the Middleweight and Super Middleweight weight classes, but never appeared to reach the full potential he flashed in these fights.

Barkley become the WBC Middleweight Champion of the World by TKO of Thomas Hearns in 1988, voted 1988 Upset of the Year by Ring magazine. In his next fight, Barkley lost his title via split decision in a 12 round war with Roberto Duran, in a fight proclaimed 1989 Fight of the Year by Ring Magazine. Following the defeat to Duran, Barkley took on undefeated Michael Nunn for the IBF Middleweight Title, dropping a close majority decision. Next he fought Nigel Benn for the WBO Middleweight Title and was TKO'd at the end of a wild first round with both fighters hurt.

Barkley moved up to the Super Middleweight division and beat Darrin Van Horn for the IBF belt in 1992. He went on to again defeat Hearns later that year for the WBA Light Heavyweight title. He never defended that title, choosing instead to defend his Super Middleweight belt against James Toney. He lost that belt to Toney via 10th round TKO. Barkley's final shot at a title would come against undefeated Henry Maske at light heavyweight, for Maske's IBF Light Heavyweight Title. Barkley lost via 9th round TKO.

Barkley continued to fight after this loss, eventually moving up to the heavyweight division. His last fight of note was a 1997 fight against aged Gerrie Coetzee, a fight which Barkley won by 10th round TKO. Shortly afterward, Barkey's career ended in 1999 after a string of six consecutive losses, including a defeat to Trevor Berbick.

Preceded by
Thomas Hearns
WBC Middleweight Champion
6 Jun 1988 – 24 Feb 1989
Succeeded by
Roberto Duran
Preceded by
Darrin Van Horn
IBF Super Middleweight Champion
10 Jan 1992– 13 Feb 1993
Succeeded by
James Toney
Preceded by
Thomas Hearns
WBA Light Heavyweight Champion
20 Mar 1992– 1992
Vacates
Succeeded by
Virgil Hill
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