Ryan Garcia is now a world champion after dropping and dominating Mario Barrrios to win by unanimous decision and capture the WBC 147-pound title on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Garcia won the fight with judges’ scores of 120-107, 119-108, 118-109.
The fight started the way Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) wanted it to. Usually, if Garcia drops an opponent, it’s with the left hook, but in Round 1, he dropped Barrios(29-3, 18 KOs) with a beautiful right hand. Barrios would get up; however, forthe rest of the fight, he offered little resistance.
The 27-year-old Garcia, according to Compubox, was the more active fighter. He landed 185 of 539 punches, while the 30-year-old Barrios landed just 106 of 328 punches.
Despite the dominant performance, Garcia felt he should have done more and gotten the knockout.
“It was one of the ones I wanted to show my whole arsenal,” Garcia said following the win. “I believe it was a masterclass, but I should have gotten the knockout.”
This was a great bounce-back performance for Garcia after losing to Rolly Romero last summer, but there is a reason many wanted to fight Barrios, who looked very vulnerable after struggling in a draw against a clearly faded Manny Pacquiao.
After the win over Barrios, Garcia said he was interested in fighting Shakur Stevenson, who was in the crowd, next, which is a big fight. However, the biggest fight would be a rematch against WBO 147-pound champion Devin Haney, which would be a unification fight and still is one of the biggest fights that could be made in the sport.
The last time Garcia fought Haney, he dropped him multiple times and won the fight, but he tested positive for PEDs, and the fight was ruled a no-contest, so there is some unfinished business.
No matter who he fights, Garcia is still one of the biggest names in the sport of boxing, and because of the name recognition, Garcia has a lot of options.
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