Ryan Garcia wrests Mario Barrios to claim WBC welterweight title — Dazn
Ryan Garcia captured the WBC welterweight championship Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, delivering a dominant unanimous decision in a fight many had tracked closely on dazn-era coverage; the victory ends a long search for a world title and comes after a turbulent stretch in Garcia’s career.
Early knockdowns set the tone
Garcia sent Mario Barrios to the canvas with his first two punches of the fight and never let up, landing a steady mix of punches to head and body from the opening bell at T-Mobile Arena. The judges scored the bout 119-108, 120-107 and 118-109, handing Garcia the clear unanimous decision that made him WBC welterweight champion.
Right hand, variety and a damaged right hand
Instead of relying on his famed left hook, Garcia leaned on his right hand and the jab, surprising Barrios with a pair of right hands that produced the early knockdowns. When Barrios anticipated a left hook, Garcia often countered with an overhand right, fired the jab or targeted the body with a left hook. Garcia's variety and speed forced Barrios into a shell and disrupted Barrios’ usual high punch volume. During the fight Garcia injured his right hand, an injury that probably saved Barrios from being stopped.
Dazn and the pre-fight expectations
Heading into Saturday’s matchup, previews had framed the fight as the moment for Garcia to finally claim a world title amid a crowded era that included Lewis Crocker, Mario Barrios and Rolando "Rolly" Romero as welterweight world champions. Those pre-fight narratives also pointed to Barrios’ recent draws with Abel Ramos and 47-year-old Manny Pacquiao as evidence he had not firmly cemented himself as champion.
Records, recent form and troubled months
Garcia, listed at 25-2 with 20 KOs, had gone 1-2 with a no-contest in the previous couple of years and was 27. He lost to Gervonta Davis and Rolly Romero, and his majority decision win over Devin Haney in 2024 was overturned after a failed drug test for the banned substance ostarine in April 2024, a result that led to a yearlong suspension. After the suspension he returned to challenge Romero for the WBA (regular) welterweight title in May at Times Square and lost a decision; Garcia said he went into that Romero bout with a hand injury and required surgery afterward, keeping him out of the ring for another nine months and leaving him with just one bout in the past 22 months.
Barrios’ path and training change
Barrios entered Saturday’s fight as the WBC champion with a record listed as 29-3-2 with 18 KOs but had gone 0-0-2 in his two previous fights, earning draws with Abel Ramos and Manny Pacquiao. For this bout Barrios hired trainer Joe Goossen, who previously worked with Garcia; that move reportedly fired up Garcia, who returned to training with his father after working with several other trainers over recent years. Goosen said, "That's the performance I expected from him, " and added, "What we needed to do more of was press a little bit more. "
Punch-output history and stylistic notes
Pre-fight analysis noted that Garcia’s recent fights had unusually low punch outputs: his fight with Romero recorded a combined 490 punches, the third-lowest combined total for a 12-round fight in CompuBox's 40-year history, and his bout with Haney had set the record at that time for the third-fewest punches thrown in a 12-round fight with 499. Critics expected a long-range, low-output matchup between two tall welterweights who might not close distance often — a prediction that contrasted with Garcia’s aggressive, right-hand-led showing in Las Vegas.
Neither man had recorded a win in nearly two years before this world title fight, a fact highlighted in preview coverage; the history includes Garcia’s seventh-round knockout loss to Gervonta "Tank" Davis in April 2023 and Barrios’ 11th-round defeat to Davis in 2021 at 140 pounds.
Garcia called the performance "one of the fights where I wanted to show you my whole arsenal, " adding that it felt like a "master class" and that he should have gotten the knockout. The win marks a career milestone for the fighter from Victorville, California, who had faced legal and disciplinary setbacks in recent months, including an arrest in June 2024 for allegedly causing an estimated $15, 000 of damage to a Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotel room and expulsion from the WBC a month later after repeatedly using racial slurs and disparaging Muslims on a social media livestream; he was later reinstated by the WBC and then positioned to challenge for the title he won Saturday.
Unclear in the provided context what Garcia or Barrios will do next; the next confirmed event is unclear in the provided context.
