Ryan Garcia will challenge Mario Barrios for his WBC Welterweight World title next month.
The American superstar landed the shot despite losing his first and only fight at the weight, being outpointed by Rolando Romero in Times Square last year. In fact, he has not logged a win since facing Oscar Duarte in December of 2023, with his majority decision over Devin Haney in 2024 being overturned to a no contest after a failed doping test.
Barrios will mark the third defence of his belt since being upgraded from interim to full champion when Terence Crawford vacated the belt in June of 2024. He has held onto it with two draws, one against Abel Ramos and the other versus Manny Pacquiao.
The fight will headline a Ring card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on February 21 in association with Golden Boy and TGB Promotions, with the undercard yet to be announced. It will be broadcast on DAZN.
The winner will be expected to face number one contender Conor Benn, who is returning to welterweight after two middleweight bouts — a loss and a win — against Chris Eubank Jr.
Garcia’s injection into the title picture, though frustrating for the other top contenders, represents a big name bout in a stacked division. Devin Haney recently moved up to the weight class and defeated Brian Norman Jr for the WBO belt. Romero, who won the WBA Interim belt when he beat Garcia last year, is now full champion after Jaron Ennis moved up to 154lbs. Belfast’s Lewis Crocker rounds out the top table as the IBF champion.
