Ryan Garcia dominated Mario Barrios on Saturday night to win by unanimous decision and capture the WBC welterweight championship.
Garcia (25-2, 20 knockouts) left little doubt he deserved the title, with the judges scoring the fight 119-108, 120-107 and 118-109.
The loss dropped Barrios to 29-3-2 (18 KOs) following his majority draw against Manny Pacquiao last July.
Garcia flew out the blocks as he dropped Barrios with an overhand right just 30 seconds into the bout. He didn't recklessly try to finish off Barrios, however, patiently using combinations to the champion's head. One such combo late in the third round briefly staggered Barrios.
"You know who I want. He's right there. Shakur Stevenson. Let's go. Let's run that," Garcia said in his post-fight interview on DAZN.
Stevenson beat Teofimo Lopez by unanimous decision to become a four-division world champion in January.
As Garcia kept picking his spots, 30-year-old Barrios had no real answers to counter the attack. Barrios occasionally landed a right, but nothing seemed to slow down Garcia.
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, perhaps sending a message to his former trainer, Joe Goosen. Henry Garcia, the fighter's dad, returned as his trainer after Garcia worked under some others.
Likely knowing he was well ahead on the scorecards, Garcia was more conservative over the final rounds.
Garcia was suspended for a year and fined $1m by the New York State Athletic Commission for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs in a win over Devin Haney in April 2024. 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, 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
In the co-main event, Gary Antuanne Russell (19-1, 17 KOs) retained his WBA super lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Japan's Andy Hiraoka (24-1, 19 KOs).
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.
