Mario Barrios puts his WBC welterweight world championship belt on the line Saturday for a defense against the challenger Ryan Garcia.
Both fighters are desperate for a win.
Garcia, you see, may be one of boxing‘s best-known athletes but he hasn’t scored a legitimate win since his eighth-round knockout of Oscar Duarte in 2023. His last four fights include a knockout loss to Gervonta Davis, a No Contest with Devin Haney after Garcia failed a drug test, and a lopsided defeat by decision to Rolando Romero.
Victory for him erases the erratic form and re-establishes Garcia as a credible force at 147 pounds.
But in Barrios, he faces a champion determined to prove his doubters — some of whom regard him as the lightest work out of all title-holders — wrong.
And he, too, is hungry to have his hand held high as the winner, considering it’s been almost two years since his decision win over Fabian Maidana, sharing successive draws with Abel Ramos and Manny Pacquiao in his two fights since.
Barrios is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to his preparations, and brought Hall of Fame coach Joe Goossen into camp.
One of the sport’s greatest minds, Goossen has worked with many elite fighters, including Garcia himself, and, between him and his new charge, Barrios, believe they have identified “a lot of flaws” that the champion can exploit when they come to blows at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas atop a DAZN pay-per-view.
“With Joe Goossen we fine-tuned everything on offense and defense,” said Barrios this week.
“In watching film on Ryan’s last performances, we can see a lot of flaws in his game.”
Able to throw up to 800 punches in a 12-round fight dependent on the opponent, Barrios could rely on a volume-punching pressure style to make Garcia uncomfortable, in a bid to prevent Garcia from establishing rhythm on his own.
He’ll need to prevent the challenger from finding space for which he can work, and even throw his signature left hook, while exploiting any technical weaknesses that present themselves on the night.
Barrios will also need to take heed of what went wrong in his fight with Pacquiao, in which he appeared to give the Filipino fighting icon far too much respect in the first half, squandering many of those rounds to the veteran, before rallying to force a disputed draw.
Elaborating to reporters on what he and coach Goossen have done in camp, Barrios said: “We worked on everything that I need to be successful. Making him uncomfortable, exploiting his weaknesses, and every round making him uncomfortable.”
Despite Garcia’s main flaw — inconsistency — when he is on his A-game, he is a sight to behold. And should he bring that level of competition to the ring this weekend, then the title fight could be a gripping one.
And, when responding on whether Barrios will be able to do what he plans to, to expose his own weaknesses, Garcia kept it simple. “No,” he said. “I don’t” think he can.
