Fighter of the Week (9/25-10/1): Mario Barrios
On a mega-fight weekend where lions only turned into pussycats, a 28-year-old Aztec Warrior stole the show and established himself as a real threat at 147 pounds. San Antonio's own "El Azteca" Mario Barrios put on a career-best performance in scoring a career-best win to capture the WBC Interim title, move his record to 28-2 (18), and takes home our Fighter of the Week Award.
Barrios showed patience and a more disciplined jab after shaking off a nice body shot. Barrios stayed the course, and that jab scored in the second round and put Ugas down. The 37-year-old Ugas fought back valiantly and scored a right hand that hurt Barrios in the 3rd and landed another big right that affected the Texan. Ugas followed up with a flurry. The fight seemed even through the midway point. It seemed the fight was up for grabs going into the second half of the fight. El Azteca certainly seized control and dominated the second half of the fight. A right uppercut in the 8th stunned Ugas. Barrios couldn't miss with the right hand as Ugas's eye began swelling. The ringside physician was called in by the referee, who appeared like he wanted to stop the fight in each of the last three rounds. A fight that should have been stopped by someone, continued into the 12th and final round. The Texan scored another knockdown with a picture-perfect left hook in the 12th. Ugas fired back and had some moments with the right hand. However, Barrios continued to get the best of scoring with some right hands of his own. Ugas was deducted a point for spitting his mouthpiece out. Barrios rolled to a wide unanimous points victory by scores of 117-108 and 118-107x2. The Texan, who picks up the WBC Interim title, which will eventually make him the mandatory for the WBC champion, which is currently Jermell Charlo, out-landed the Cuban 193 of 810 to Ugas's 86 of 277.
Trainer of the Year Bob Santos is clearly clicking with Barrios and has cleaned up some sloppiness that compliments his style and is getting the best out of the Texan. Barrios is going to need his newly found sharpness as he prepares for the absolute best fighters in the world at 147 pounds. He is in line for a title shot, a belt that is currently held by undisputed champion Terence Crawford. A fight with Crawford is unlikely to happen as Crawford is moving up to 154. So the likely scenario is that Barrios, the interim champ, fights the top-ranked welterweight by the WBC, who is currently Cody Crawley. A win in that fight would put El Azteca alongside his buddy Bam Rodriguez as the only two divisions champ from Alamo City.
