MARIO BARRIOS isn’t thinking about welterweight title unification fights in 2025 or anything, frankly, other than the unprecedented exposure he’ll receive Friday night.
San Antonio’s Barrios has headlined pay-per-view events for FOX and Showtime. Boxing two bouts before Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, however, should afford him a bigger audience than has ever seen Barrios perform in any of his first 31 professional fights.
Netflix will stream Barrios’ defence of his WBC welterweight title against Abel Ramos as the second of four fights from the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington. The world’s largest streaming service has almost 283 million subscribers in over 190 countries, enormous numbers not lost on an appreciative Barrios.
“I’m just hoping, you know, to turn those casual viewers into lifelong boxing fans,” Barrios told Boxing News, “to let them know what boxing, as a sport, has to offer, as far as talent, especially talent from Texas.”
Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) is certain he and Ramos (28-6-2, 22 KOs) will deliver plenty of entertainment value immediately before rivals Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano meet in a 10-round rematch for Taylor’s IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 140-pound championships. The eighth-ranked Ramos, of Casa Grande, Arizona, is an optional opponent for Barrios, who wants to battle IBF 147-pound champ Jaron “Boots” Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs, 1 NC), WBO champ Brian Norman (26-0, 22 KOs) or WBA champ Eimantas Stanionis (15-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) in his first fight of next year.
The 29-year-old Barrios realizes, though, that he’ll face a very motivated Ramos.
“You’ve got two Mexican fighters fighting for the WBC title,” Barrios said. “I’m expecting a firefight. Of course, I’m gonna go in there with my game plan. My coach [Bob Santos] will want me to fight a smart fight, but I’ve got no doubt we will probably wind up going toe-to-toe in there. I know fight fans on Friday are gonna be very pleased with the fight that we bring.”
Ramos, 33, is 2-3 in his past five fights. He lost a 12-round split decision to Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas (then 25-4) in a fight for the WBA’s secondary welterweight title and a 12-round unanimous decision to Canadian contender Cody Crowley (then 21-0) in a WBC elimination match during that stretch.
“I don’t think he’s gonna get many opportunities like this again after this,” Barrios said. “You know, this is kinda his last shot. At least that’s the mentality we’re going with into this fight. So, we know it’s all or nothing for him. I prepared myself in camp for a gruelling 12 rounds if need be. But, yeah, I’m gonna go in there and try to execute our game plan as best as possible.”
Ramos won his last bout by fifth-round technical knockout over Mexico’s Juan Ramon Guzman (18-4-1, 14 KOs) on April 19 in Tijuana. Barrios successfully defended his WBC belt two weeks later.
The former WBA super lightweight champ is displeased with how he fought in that bout against Argentina’s Fabian Maidana (23-3, 17 KOs), whom Barrios outpointed unanimously on the Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia undercard May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Barrios dropped Maidana during the third round and won by the same score, 116-111, on all three cards, yet he feels like he didn’t execute his game plan once serious swelling started to develop beneath his right eye.
“I would’ve graded myself maybe a C-plus, B-minus,” Barrios said. “Of course, there’s a lotta things I would do differently in every fight. I like how well I utilized the jab early on. But once my eye swelled up, it kinda made things difficult.”
Netflix’s undercard coverage is set to start at 1am GMT in the UK (8pm ET in the United States). The first three bouts on the Paul-Tyson undercard will be streamed on the Netflix Sports and MVP Promotions YouTube channels, starting at 10:30pm GMT and 5:30pm ET.
