LAS VEGAS — Ryan Garcia finally secured the one thing that had eluded him for his professional career: a world championship.
Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) dropped Mario Barrios with the first two punches he threw in the fight and cruised to a wide unanimous decision to become the new WBC welterweight champion. It was a scintillating display of speed and power from Garcia, who put together arguably the most complete performance of his career as he dominated on the scorecards with scores of 119-108, 120-107 and 118-109.
Garcia showed another side of his game, relying heavily on his right hand instead of his vaunted left hook to bludgeon Barrios around the ring for the duration of the fight. He surprised Barrios from the opening bell, pummeling him with a pair of right hands that sent him to the canvas.
From there, Barrios simply couldn’t figure out where the punches were coming from and when, as Garcia burned through him with a variety of punches from the head and body. When Barrios thought a left hook was coming, Garcia would slam an overhand right, fire the jab or sink a left hook to the body. The sheer variety and blistering speed forced Barrios into a shell for most of the fight, following Garcia around the ring and unable to put together his usual high volume of punches.
“It was one of the fights where I wanted to show you my whole arsenal,” Garcia said. “I believe it was like a master class, but I should have got the knockout, to be honest. It wasn’t just a left hook. Y’all were saying watch out for my left hook the whole time, but you saw my right hand working tonight.”
The only thing that might have saved Barrios from being stopped was Garcia hurting his right hand in the fight. Still, it was one of Garcia’s finest moments in his pro career, and he finally reached the lofty expectations placed on him when he turned pro a decade ago.
Garcia, 27, was coming off a tough past couples of years, going 1-2 with a no contest. Between his losses to Gervonta Davis and Rolly Romero, Garcia’s career was dealt a significant blow when his majority decision win over Devin Haney in 2024 was overturned due to a failed drug test that resulted in a yearlong suspension.
While his star power remained intact, Garcia’s tactics in and out of the ring have been mired in controversy with a June 2024 arrest for allegedly causing an estimated $15,000 of damage to a Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotel room and an expulsion from the WBC a month later after repeatedly using racial slurs against Black people and disparaging Muslims on a social media livestream.
Still, Garcia found himself in position to challenge for a world title once the WBC reinstated him and he took advantage of the opportunity by dissecting Barrios with ease. Although he entered the fight as the champion, Barrios (29-3-2, 18 KOs) had gone 0-0-2 in his two previous fights, earning draws against Manny Pacquiao and Abel Ramos.
While those fights were competitive, the fight with Garcia was not. Barrios couldn’t match his speed, use his volume punching or put together anything that would make Garcia reconsider his approach.
For Saturday’s bout, Barrios enlisted the services of Joe Goossen, who previously trained Garcia. That hiring lit a fire under Garcia, who returned to the tutelage of his father after going through several trainers over the past few years. Garcia’s return to his father yielded one of his most complete performances and proved that even though Barrios had an instructor who was familiar with him, it wouldn’t be enough to turn back the supremely talented fighter out of Victorville, California.
“That’s the performance I expected from him,” Goosen said of Garcia. “What we needed to do was more of was press a little bit more. But Mario tried his best, took his big shots early and a few in the mid rounds, but for the most part, he took everything Ryan gave him and kept on coming.”
Although Garcia took his foot off the gas in the final rounds, the outcome was never in doubt. Afterward, he called for a fight against WBO 140-pound champion Shakur Stevenson, which would be one of the biggest fights of the year.
“You know who I want? He’s right there. So, Shakur Stevenson, let’s go,” Garcia said. “Hey, 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.”
The future is bright for Garcia, who will have plenty of options for his first title defense.
