In case you hadn’t realized, it’s pretty good to be Ryan Garcia.
The mercurial “KingRy” gets another chance to reinvent himself on Saturday night in Las Vegas, where he’ll challenge Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title despite not having officially won a fight in more than two years and never at 147 pounds.
Nevertheless, he’s the fourth-ranked contender for the crown, which Barrios “earned” when previous claimant Terence Crawford moved up to 154 pounds. He’s since defended twice but hasn’t won, instead escaping with draws against the unheralded Abel Ramos and a 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao.
In fact, Barrios’ last win came 21 months ago when he defeated Fabian Maidana in a second-tier title bout on a Canelo Alvarez undercard in Las Vegas.
B/R’s combat team is in position to take in the action at T-Mobile Arena and deliver a real-time, definitive list of the show’s winners and losers. Take a look at what we come up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.