Yordenis Ugas, left, fights Mario Barrios in a welterweight boxing match Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Picture/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS — Former WBA tremendous light-weight champion Mario Barrios wished to make an announcement within the 147-pound class Saturday night time in his first struggle since stopping Jovanie Santiago in February.
Assertion made.
Barrios received the interim WBC welterweight title with a unanimous determination win over 37-year-old Yordenis Ugás on the undercard of the undisputed world tremendous middleweight championship between Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo on Saturday night time.
Judges Steve Weisfeld and Chris Flores each scored the struggle 118-107, whereas Tim Cheatham had it 117-108.
It was Barrios’ second straight win since being mired in a two-fight shedding streak to Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman.
“It was unbelievable,” stated Barrios (28-2, 18 KOs). “All of the work we put in out right here in Las Vegas preparing, it paid off. I used to be tremendous excited and I’m blessed to be on this place.”
BarriosBarrios’ new title might develop into everlasting if undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford strikes up in weight. There may be additionally a risk of the 28-year-old from San Antonio shifting in line for one of many belts held by Crawford, who was in attendance Saturday night time.
What Crawford and the remainder of the group witnessed was the tactician in Barrios taking Ugás aside spherical by spherical, knocking him down twice and shutting his surgically repaired proper eye.
Barrios set the tone early when he caught Ugás with a fast left jab to the nostril that despatched him to the canvas.
“Early on he caught me with a pleasant liver shot that slowed me down slightly bit,” Barrios stated. “As soon as I settled down slightly bit and located that fast little jab, that’s once I was capable of begin choosing up the tempo.”
Ugás, who was making his return after a 17-month absence and was listed as a -250 favourite at FanDuel simply earlier than the struggle, fell to 27-6 in his profession.
Ugás hoped to place a loss to Erroll Spence, Jr. in his final struggle behind him, a bout that noticed him undergo a fractured proper orbital within the Tenth-round TKO loss. As an alternative, it might have revealed the top of his profession.
Ugás, popularly often known as the person who despatched Manny Pacquiao into retirement in 2021, wanted to have his proper eye checked by Dr. David Watson earlier than the beginning of the Tenth, eleventh and twelfth rounds.
“It wasn’t about his eye, we’ve simply been drilling utilizing my jab extra,” Barrios stated. “I’ve the dimensions benefit towards many of the dudes I struggle. I listened to my nook and tried to time the jab.”
One thing he did properly, touchdown 20.1% (107 of 533) of the jabs he threw, per CompuBox, in comparison with Ugás touchdown a mere 13.4% (36 of 268). General, Barrios landed 193 of the 810 punches thrown (23.8%) whereas Ugás landed 101 of 484 (20.9%).
The co-main occasion, a 12-round WBC/WBA tremendous welterweight world title eliminator bout between rising 22-year-old star Jesus Ramos and Erickson Lubin, became a sleeper with little or no motion that turned an brisk crowd from the Barrios-Ugás struggle right into a gathering of boos and hisses by the eleventh spherical.
The boos grew louder when ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. introduced a unanimous determination in favor of Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs), who handed Ramos (20-1, 16 KOs) the primary defeat of his profession.
Decide Patricia Morse Jarman scored the struggle 117-111, John McKaie had it 116-112, and Chris Migliore had the bout scored closest, 115-113.
It was a peculiar determination contemplating the ultimate punch stats from CompuBox, which had Ramos touchdown 29.1% of his punches (145 of 499) and Lubin touchdown simply 17.3% (92 of 532). Ramos additionally held an amazing edge together with his energy punches, touchdown 84 of 225 (37.3%) to Lubin’s 33 of 154 (21.4%).
Within the first match of the primary card, Elijah Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs) remained undefeated with an eighth-round TKO of Armando Resendiz (14-2, 10 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight bout.
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Moments after dropping Resendiz with a pointy right-handed two-punch combo to the physique and head, Garcia attacked with a flurry of punches within the nook, prompting referee Tony Weeks to cease the struggle on the 1:23 mark of the eighth spherical.
