LAS VEGAS – Ryan Garcia is an immensely talented boxer who has gone through his share of personal and professional turmoil in his young career, but at some point, his skills figured to put him on top.
That finally happened Saturday night in a clinic of a performance.
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Garcia dominated Mario Barrios to win by unanimous decision and capture the WBC welterweight championship. The judges scored the fight 119-108, 120-107 and 118-109 for Garcia (25-2, 20 knockouts) of Victorville, California. The Associated Press had it 119-109.
“It feels good to finally be a world champion,” Garcia said. “It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was 7 years old.”
Garcia already has begun to turn to his future, looking at WBO super lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson and saying he wanted him next.
This was the second underwhelming bout in a row for Barrios (29-3-2, 18 KOs) of San Antonio, who was fortunate to escape with a majority draw victory over Manny Pacquiao last July.
In the co-main event, Gary Antuanne Russell (19-1, 17 KOs) of Capitol Heights, Maryland, retained his WBA super lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Japan’s Andy Hiraoka (24-1, 19 KOs). The judges scored the fight 117-110, 116-111 and 116-111. Hiraoka was penalized a point in the 10th round for delivering a punch below the belt that caused a short stoppage.
Richardson Hitchins (20-0, 8 KOs) of New York was scheduled to defend his IBF super lightweight belt against Oscar Duarte (30-2-1, 23 KOs) of Mexico, but pulled out of the fight citing an illness. That bout was supposed to be the co-main event. There was no immediate word on whether Hitchins would forfeit his title for the late cancellation.
Garcia, a -250 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook, went to work right away, knocking down Barrios with an overhand right just 30 seconds into the bout. He didn’t recklessly try to finish off Barrios, however, patiently using combination to the champion’s head. One such combo late in the third round briefly staggered Barrios.
“I was caught early with a punch I didn’t see,” Barrios said. “Other than that, he had the better game plan. He fought very smart, very explosive, very intelligent. It was his night.”
As Garcia kept picking his spots, the 30-year-old Barrios had no real answers to counter the attack. Barrios occasionally landed a right, but nothing seemed to slow down Garcia, who relied heavily on his right hand.
“I was working on my right hand pretty much the whole camp,” Garcia said. “I literally didn’t throw left hooks because I knew they were going to be preparing for the left hook. So it was common sense to kind of just keep firing that right hand.”
Perhaps sensing his opponent might be in trouble, Garcia went hard after Barrios in the fifth round, attacking him from the opening bell. He delivered multiple shots to Barrios’ head, but unlike that first-round knockdown, nothing sent him to the canvass. There was little doubt, though, which fighter was in charge.
Garcia even looked over at Barrios’ corner in the 10th round, and the new champ acknowledged after the fight that he kept glancing at his former trainer, Joe Goossen.
Henry Garcia, the fighter’s dad, returned as his trainer after Garcia worked under some others.
“I’m dedicated this fight to my father,” Garcia said. “That was the beginning of this journey. My dad’s been there since I was 7 years old.”
Likely knowing he was well ahead on the scorecards, Garcia was more conservative over the final rounds. The largely pro-Garcia crowd went to its feet over the final 30 seconds to cheer on their favorite boxer.
This has been quite a three-year stretch for Garcia, suspended for a year and fined $1 million by the New York State Athletic Commission for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs in a win over Devin Haney. The WBC also expelled Garcia for a few months for using racial and ethnic slurs, and he also had his share of legal issues.
Beyond that, the 27-year-old Garcia also needed to bounce back from his most recent fight, a unanimous-decision loss to Rolando Romero in New York’s Times Square.
“I made a lot of mistakes, but I made a 360 turn,” Garcia said. “I committed myself to be the best champion I could be.”
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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing