Both Ryan Garcia and Mario Barrios made weight for their welterweight clash this Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for Barrios’ WBC welterweight title.
Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs, one no-contest) weighed in at 146.5 pounds while Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs) hit the scales at the welterweight limit of 147.
This will be a bout between two boxers who haven’t had a victory in quite some time.
Garcia’s last victory came on Dec. 2, 2023, when he knocked out Oscar Duarte in the eighth round. His next fight was against Devin Haney for Haney’s WBC super lightweight title on April 20, 2024. Garcia weighed in at 143.2 pounds, more than 3 pounds above the super lightweight limit. As a result, Garcia was ineligible to win the title and had to forfeit $600,000 of his purse to Haney.
In a mild upset, Garcia beat Haney via majority decision, scoring three knockdowns in rounds 7, 10 and 11. However, Garcia later tested positive for Ostarine, a performance-enhancing drug, both the day before and the day of the fight with Haney. As a result, the win for Garcia was changed to a no-contest. Garcia was also fined $1.1 million and suspended for a year.
After the suspension was lifted, Garcia signed to fight Rolando “Rolly” Romero last May at New York City’s Time Square for the vacant WBA “regular” welterweight title, with the expectation being that Garcia would win and build momentum for a rematch with Haney. However, Garcia came into the fight listless as he suffered a second-round knockdown and lost via unanimous decision.
On Saturday, Garcia will look to end his winless streak against Barrios, a fighter who, despite making the fourth defense of his welterweight title, has also not had his hand raised in victory for a while.
Barrios’ last victory came on May 4, 2024, when he defeated Faibian Maidana via unanimous decision in the first defense of his title. Barrios’ last two fights, however, have ended in draws, with a split-decision draw against Abel Ramos on Nov. 15, 2024, and a majority-decision draw against Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao last July.