Ryan Garcia is now the World Boxing Council 147 pound champion after dropping and eventually out pointing Mario Barrios at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I feel so grounded and peaceful,” Garcia said after his unanimous decision win which garnered the Victorville, California product his first major title in one of the finest performances of his career.
“I don’t even think I’ve come close to hitting my ceiling of potential yet. I think this is going to go even crazier and I’m going to be even better than what I showed today.”
Garcia, (25-2, 20 KOs) came out guns blazing by dropping Barrios with a barrage of punches including a right hand to the head of his opponent which sent Barrios to the canvas inside the first minute of the fight.
From that point on, Barrios was beaten to the punch and listless offensively as Garcia showed his flashy quickness, (a former nickname had Garcia labeled ‘Flash’) solid left hook and evened out head-to-body work which included a regular flow of landed right hands in an all around solid performance in Sin City that resulted in a slanted scorecard after 12 rounds at 119-108, 120-107 and 118-109 for Garcia.
Barrios (29-3-2, 18 KOs) had last defended his title in July 2025 against Hall of Fame inductee Manny Pacquiao in what ended in a draw, and Garcia had lost to Rolando Romero in May of that year in an unsuccessful decision loss for the WBA welterweight title.
Garcia now finds himself in prime position in the sport of boxing as the WBC champion, where he could unify welterweight titles against Romero in a rematch, face former opponent and current WBO welterweight champion Devin Haney in another unification bout, pursue a once rumored fight with Pacquiao, or entice recently crowned junior welterweight champion Shakur Stevenson to move up a division in a clash of former amateur rivals.
“You know who I want,” Garcia said. “He’s right there — Shakur Stevenson, let’s go. Let’s run that s***. I want to be a great champion, and I’m not scared of s***. I fought Devin Haney, I’ll fight Shakur Stevenson, I’ll fight anybody.”
Photos Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images
