Ryan Garcia became a world champion for the first time in some style at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as he dropped Mario Barrios early en route to an emphatic points win to take the WBC welterweight title on Saturday.
Quite how Garcia (25-2, KO20) got the title shot was a mystery, dropped on the way to a loss on the cards to Rolando Romero in his last outing last May. Barrios (29-3-2, KO18) looked a champion there for the taking, having drawn with an ageing Manny Pacquiao in his last bout and so it proved in a one-sided meeting.
The writing was on the wall within the first 30 seconds of this one, as a right hand from Garcia dumped a shocked Barrios onto the canvas.
The champion survived, but then another two big rights had Barrios hurt in what was a spectacular start for ‘King Ry’.
Garcia was looking sharp, and his speed was becoming an urgent issue for the 30-year-old, with the challenger letting his hands go in the third while he also worked well on the counter.
Right hands were landing at will for the Californian, and another one in the fifth had Barrios wobbled, with combinations also proving impossible for him to deal with.
By the start of the second half, Barrios was already totally outgunned and outclassed, although Garcia’s output dipped in the eighth and ninth, but that may have been due to the 27-year-old suffering an injury to that potent right hand.
Garcia kept up the good work with his flashy combinations, and when he took a breather, he just kept Barrios on the end of a jab, and as the fight went to the cards, the result was inevitable as a new world champion was crowned.
Garcia took a dominant win by scores of 120-107, 119-108 and 118-109, and immediately called out Shakur Stevenson as a future opponent.
Russell sees off Hiraoka
Gary Antuanne Russell (19-1, 17 KOs) took the unbeaten record of Andy Hiraoka as he took a clear win on the cards after twelve rounds at super lightweight to defend his WBA title.
One score of 117-110 and two at 116-111 saw Russell (19-1, 17 KOs) the winner in a rugged fight, where Hiraoka (24-1, 19 KOs) was deducted a point for low blows in round ten.
Remaining Undercard
In 10-round action, Frank Martin (19-1-1, 13 KOs) and Nahir Albright (17-2-1, 7 KOs) fought to a draw at super lightweight.
All three cards returned a 95-95 verdict in a stalemate.
Bektemir Melikuziev (17-1, 11 KOs) had his first outing of 2026, and the Uzbek stopped Sena Agbeko (29-5, 23 KOs) in round seven of their super middleweight clash.
View this post on Instagram
Middleweight hope Amari Jones (16-0, 14 KOs) picked up another early win, this time halting Luis Arias (22-7-1, 11 KOs) in the fourth round of their middleweight meeting.
In six-rounders, Mohammed Alakel (8-0, 2 KOs) got the job done in two rounds against David Calabro (5-2, 3 KOs) at super featherweight. and heavyweight novice Joshua Edwards (6-0, 5 KOs) won all six rounds against Brandon Colantonio (7-2, 1 KO).
The post Mario Barrios vs Ryan Garcia – Results & Post-Fight Report appeared first on ProBoxing-Fans.com.