Ryan Garcia put on a boxing clinic against Mario Barrios to win the WBC welterweight world title.
Despite a disappointing last performance against Rolando Romero in May last year, The Californian-born boxer redeemed himself against Barrios and won via a unanimous decision after a 12 round beatdown at the T-Mobile Arena, Nevada.
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The “Garcia Factor”
Despite Garcia’s huge potential and electrifying knockouts over the years, a world title has eluded his boisterous career filled with excitement, controversy and promise.
Garcia immediately started the fight on fire, knocking Barrios down within the first few minutes with a right hook to the temple, immediately setting the tempo of the contest.
Known for his extremely fast hands and risk-taking, Garcia signaled his intent early, using his lead hand to frame and his right to cause the ultimate damage.
Garcia closed out the first round with the momentum firmly in his favour, his ring generalship and activity was what won him the round.
Garcia Goes For The Win
However, the next few rounds was when Garcia really separated himself from Barrios from a technical and attacking point of view. The 27 year old’s combination punching bamboozled Barrios all night as he had no answer.
According to Compubox, Garcia outlanded Barrios in all of the early rounds apart from the second, where Garcia still attempted more punches.
Garcia stunned Barrios with another chopping right hand to the jaw, which Barrios withstood and came back with his own, however his retaliation did very little damage to the resurging Garcia.
The Mexican-American wobbled Barrios again in the fifth round with an early flurry of punches which kept Barrios honest.
By the time of the eighth round, the activity slowed down from both fighters, Garcia noticed a discomfort in his right hand which neutralised his attacking repertoire, however he was still firmly on top as he landed seven more jabs than the resilient Barrios.
By the end of the fight, Garcia was only exclusively punching with his left arm, using it as a flicking jab to further continue his rhythm and timing which kept Barrios out of kilter during the fight.
According to Compubox, Garcia struck Barrios with 103 power punches, a huge output compared to his fight against Romero where he only threw 18. He also threw 82 jabs, the most he has thrown in any of his fights.
Big Win
With a dominant victory from Garcia, a mouthwatering matchup with the WBO super lightweight champion, Shakur Stevenson could potentially take place, with Stevenson getting an impressive win of his own against Teofimo Lopez last Month. The fight is rumoured to be at a catchweight of 144 pounds
However he also got other potential challengers like Conor Benn and Devin Haney, who are also coming off the back of impressive against Chris Eubank Jr and Brian Norman Jr respectively.
Improving his record to 25 wins and two losses, Garcia finally stands as a world champion and is in his physical prime at 27 years old, his potential for the spectacular is what will keep the boxing world engaged, as he even arrived at the venue in a 4 million dollar Koenigsegg sporting a bright red tracksuit. “King Ry” finally received his coronation.
As for Barrios, the 30 year old former champion is in the latter end of his illustrious career, and disappointing performances against an aging Manny Pacquiao as well his most recent outing against Garcia has thrown his career into uncertainty.
