Mario Barrios to defend world title against Ryan Garcia on February 21st

 

Mario Barrios is a welterweight champion from the United States by way of San Antonio, Texas. Standing at 6 ft., even with a 71-in. reach, he is rather tall for his weight class. Nicknamed "El Azteca," he lives up to the warrior identity of the ancient Aztecs. Every Mario Barrios fight is exciting. 

His opponent, Ryan Garcia, is no slouch either. He too has a nickname, simply known as "King Ryan." Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1998, Ryan is about 5'10" with a reach of 70 in. He will be the smaller man against Mario Barrios. Before turning pro, he was already a veteran in the amateur ranks, compiling over 200 wins. Just like Mario Barrios, he too relies heavily on combinations and aggressiveness while also compiling an 80% knockout ratio. He is what you call a superstar in the boxing world, with over 12 million followers on Instagram alone. So yes, he is a superstar. To put that in perspective, Shohei Ohtani, the baseball superstar, has 10 million followers as of 2026 on Instagram. Basically everywhere Ryan Garcia goes, there will be a splash and quite an interest in him.

It is difficult to predict the winner between Mario Barrios and Ryan Garcia because both fighters share similar styles, which will likely result in an action-packed night on February 21st, 2026. Ryan Garcia faces a challenge against Mario Barrios because Mario Barrios is naturally the bigger man and is good at putting pressure on his opponent, just as Tank Davis and Luke Campbell, his two toughest fights, did against him.

What we learned from the Garcia and Davis fight is that Garcia's aggressiveness could eventually hurt him because he can be easily timed and countered by devastating left hands. Although Barrios is not Tank Davis, he could also emulate Davis' aggressiveness and left counters and precision timing. If anyone can achieve this, it is definitely Mario Barrios, who can perform at a level that would effectively trouble Garcia. The punch that ended the fight for Garcia against Davis was a left punch to the body. 

In his second defeat, he fought another talented boxer by the name of Rolando Romero, who also lost to Tank Davis. Ryan Garcia's evident weakness appears to be his inability to protect his body. In this fight, however, the match went the full distance of 12 rounds, during which he lost to Romero by unanimous decision. Also, it could be argued that the result was seemingly close, with two judges scoring the 12-round fight 115-112 and one judge scoring the fight 118 to 109, all in favor of his opponent. The decision by one judge to score the fight 118 to 109 was somewhat surprising. Nonetheless, it was Ryan Garcia's second loss in his career.

Mario Barrios' second defeat was at the hands of Keith Thurman in 2022 in a fight he clearly lost. Keith Thurman, who was more accurate and dominant, simply outclassed Mario in this fight. His second loss suggested that if you are able to control the distance and counterpunch him, you would be able to beat him just like Keith Thurman in their fight. Although he would be the favorite, Ryan's aggressiveness should be able to hold him off long enough to have a couple of rounds stolen from him.

The match will be exciting, action-filled, and quite possibly one of the best fights of the year. This fight will be as close as it can get. The outcome might even be controversial. So hold on to your seats; this event is going to be a rollercoaster ride. 

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