Mario Barrios will defend his WBC welterweight against #8 Abel Ramos in a 12 round fight on November 15th at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) will be making his first defense of his World Boxing Council belt on the undercard of YouTuber Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson on Netflix.
Ramos (28-6-2, 22 KOs) has lost two out of his last three fights and isn’t the ideal challenger to compete for a world title against Barrios. However, this fight will help Barrios by giving him a better chance of holding onto his WBC title and looking good in a showcase-type fight.
This is still not a sure thing win for Barrios, who is a vulnerable fighter who isn’t a true top-rung talent. Although Barrios is a two-division world champion, he’s viewed as an email champ at 147.
Barrios captured his WBA 140-lb title, beating Batyr Akhmedov by a 12 round unanimous decision in 2019, but then lost the belt, losing to Gervonta Davis by an 11th round knockout in 2021. Ring-rusty Keith Thurman dominated Barrios in 2022, coming off a near three-year layoff to win a twelve-round unanimous decision.
Ramos, 33, has recent losses to Cody Crowley, Luke Santamaria, and Yordenis Ugas. In May 2021, Ramos scored a sixth-round stoppage win over former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. in a small upset. Ramos is coming off a fifth-round knockout win over Juan Ramon Guzman last April.
The 29-year-old Texas native Barrios was recently elevated by the WBC from interim champion to full champ after Terence Crawford moved up to 154. Crawford has been given the ‘Champion in recess’ tag by the WBC, which allows him to return to the 147-lb division to challenge Barrios for his belt at any time. He’s not expected to do that because there’s no money in that fight.
There had been rumors that Barrios would defend his WBC welterweight title against Manny Pacquiao, but nothing has come of that. Barrios would have been heavily criticized if he defended his WBC title against the 45-year-old Pacquiao, who hasn’t fought in three years since 2021 and isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the sanctioning body.
If Barrios successfully defends his WBC belt against Ramos, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn could offer him a good money to face IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in a unification. Barrios has one of the belts that Boots wants to capture so that he can become the undisputed champion at 147.
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