Darren Barker eyeing big names for his September return!

"Dazzling" Darren Barker.

British middleweight Darren Barker is set to return to the ring in September and he is in need of an opponent.

One of the names mentioned is highly-rated middleweight prospect Grzegorz Proksa. But this can only happen if he wins his European title back in a rematch with fellow British middleweight Kerry Hope on July 7th.

"There was never any chance of me not fighting again," said Barker. You've got to find the balance when looking at my next opponent, but I'm content to carry on where I left off and obviously get back to winning ways before pushing back to the top level. It would be nice to fight Grzegorz Proksa. I wouldn't mind fighting either [Hope or Proksa], but I've got a lot of faith in Eddie Hearn and my team, so we'll wait and see what happens."

Barker against Proksa would be a great comeback fight for Barker and would provide a tough test for the former world title contender. However, there is a much bigger name that Barker is targeting. And that person is WBA world champion Felix Sturm. The German struggled against Matthew Macklin and Martin Murray and Barker reminded him that there is one other top British super-middleweight that he needs to face.

"We've had no offers from him yet," claimed Barker. "But I'd go straight out to Germany for Sturm - no problem."

This would be a much better fight for Barker but personally, I think he should have a few less difficult fights to warm himself up again and then move onto a world title fight.

There is a growing rivalry between Darren Barker, Martin Murray and Matthew Macklin who all believe that they are the best middleweight in Britain. But it looks a long way away until any of them actually meet in the ring. Macklin has repeatedly trash-talked and bad-mouthed his fellow countrymen and Barker is not happy about this.

"It did surprise me a bit to be honest. Myself and Martin deserve more respect because we've proved that we're top level fighters, so to be called a "stepping stone" was quite an insult and is something that will come back to haunt him."