Newly-crowned WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia has received plenty of praise following his victory over Mario Barrios on Saturday.
Garcia dominated the bout from start to finish, dropping Barrios in the opening round on his way to a unanimous decision victory, with the judges scoring the bout 120-107, 119-108 and 118-109 in his favour.
The win saw ‘King Ry’ become world champion for the first time as he claimed the WBC belt at 147lbs, with attention now potentially turning to a showdown against four-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson, who won the WBO super-lightweight title last month by defeating Teofimo Lopez.
One man who has backed Stevenson throughout his career is fellow boxing great Terence Crawford, who retired from the sport in December following his monumental victory over Canelo Alvarez.
While Crawford would undoubtedly back Stevenson in a possible clash against Garcia, ‘Bud’ gave credit where it was due to ‘King Ry’ for his win over Barrios, as he needed just one word to sum up the performance when asked by Clocked n Loaded.
“Amazing.”
Garcia proved he belongs at world level following the win over Barrios, having previously come up short in big fights against the likes of Gervonta Davis and Rolly Romero.
He did claim a win over Devin Haney in April 2024, only for the result to be overturned to a no contest after failing a drugs test. That resulted in a 12-month ban from the sport, something that Stevenson made reference to were he to agree to a clash against ‘King Ry.’
