Ryan Garcia has finally got his hands on a world title.
Garcia delivered a masterclass performance on Sunday afternoon, defeating Mario Barrios by unanimous decision to capture the WBC welterweight championship in front of a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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The official score cards – 119-108, 120-107 and 118-109 – reflected a one-sided fight that Garcia controlled at every turn.
Garcia, who put on arguably the best performance of his career, floored Barrios in the first round which set the tone for the rest of the fight.
Barrios, the naturally bigger man, tried to walk Garcia down and apply pressure, but Garcia used all his weapons to land on the champion and stay out of trouble.
He established his speed advantage early with rapid fire combinations that Barrios simply had no answers for.
Although he is known for his left hook, it was Garcia’s right hand that did most of the damage against Barrios on Sunday.
“The look of shock from Mario Barrios when he got hit with that right hand!” Chris Mannix said on commentary after the champion was knocked down inside 30 seconds.
His co-analyst added: “Barrios is a sucker for that right hand. Garcia is beating him up with one hand!”
Barrios, who was making the fourth defense of his title, did well to stay on his feet in the later rounds with Garcia landing clean shots on him over and over.
Garcia celebrated afterwards with his an coach and dad Henry.
“This is great, I’ve dedicated this to my dad, though,” Garcia said.
“It was like it was written on a story,” he continued. “It’s something I wouldn’t want any other way. It’s a special relationship with your father.
“If you’ve got your dad – tell him you love him. I love you with all my heart.”
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It didn’t take long for Garcia to call out his next opponent, either.
“You know who I want, Shakur Stevenson let’s go,” he said.
“I want to be a great champion. I’m not scared. I’ll fight Devin Haney, I’ll fight Shakur Stevenson. Let’s go.”
Garcia explained why he would beat Stevenson.
“You’ve got to have some kind of punching power to get me off you,” he said.
“I’m not going to hit him light. I want that fight. Shakur let’s get it. I want that work.”
Earlier a significant fight was cancelled with IBF super lightweight champion Richardson Hitchins ruled out of his scheduled co-main event title defense against Oscar Duarte due to an unknown illness.
Hitchins and Duarte had done the mandatory same-day IBF weigh-in. Both guys had to come within ten pounds of the 140-pound weight limit. Hitchins came in at 149.4 while Duarte was 149.6.
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The 28-year-old Hitchins was looking to make his second title defense after capturing the title from Liam Paro in December 2024. He stopped former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos in June.
Now, his second title defense will have to wait.
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