Martinez-Barker Kicks Off At 10 ET on HBO Saturday

HBO SPORTS^® PRESENTS A MIDDLEWEIGHT DOUBLEHEADER WHEN

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING^®:

SERGIO MARTINEZ VS. DARREN BARKER AND ANDY LEE VS. BRIAN VERA

IS SEEN LIVE SATURDAY, OCT. 1 ON HBO

HBO Sports unleashes an explosive middleweight twin bill when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING:  SERGIO MARTINEZ VS. DARREN BARKER AND ANDY LEE VS. BRIAN VERA is seen live SATURDAY, OCT. 1 (10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT) from historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, exclusively on HBO.  The HBO Sports team will be ringside for all the action, presented in HDTV and in Spanish on HBO Latino.

The consensus 2010 Fighter of the Year, Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KOs), originally from Buenos Aires and now living in Oxnard, Cal., comes into this 12-round, 160-pound showdown on a hot streak, following a thrilling second-round knockout of Paul Williams in Nov. 2010, and an eighth-round knockout of previously undefeated Sergiy Dzinziruk in March.  The 36-year-old slugger will face undefeated 29-year-old London native Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KOs), who is fighting on American soil for the first time.

In the ten-round, 160-pound opening bout, Andy Lee (26-1, 19 KOs) seeks revenge on Brian Vera (19-5, 12 KOs).  Originally from London, Lee now resides in Detroit, while Lone Star slugger Vera, originally from Fort Worth, currently lives in Austin.  Vera handed Lee his only loss in March 2008, in what many called a controversial knockout.  Since then, Lee has been unstoppable, pummeling opponent after opponent.  Vera comes into the bout with his own momentum following a victory over former light middleweight titleholder Sergio Mora.