Paulie Malignaggi has offered an emphatic prediction for Mario Barrios vs Ryan Garcia, believing their welterweight showdown will end inside the distance.
The pair are just hours away from colliding, with Barrios making the third defence of his WBC title at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. Since being elevated from ‘interim’ to full world champion, the 30-year-old has boxed to back-to-back draws against Abel Ramos and a 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao.
The Pacquiao fight, in particular, left many feeling he was fortunate to come away still holding the belt, as the Filipino icon rolled back the years to make for a closely-contested affair in July.
But while Barrios’ status as a bona fide champion at 147lbs is perhaps up for debate, so too is Garcia’s position as a genuine world title challenger.
The 27-year-old comes off a unanimous decision defeat, where he was floored in the second round, against Rolando Romero in May.
Prior to that, he claimed a majority decision victory over Devin Haney, only for the result to be overturned to a no-contest due to him testing positive for ostarine in April 2024.
On top of that, Garcia was also handed a year-long ban by the New York State Athletic Commission, yet a selection of fans and pundits are nonetheless backing him to defeat Barrios.
One of whom is former world champion Malignaggi, who told talkSPORT that he does not rate Barrios in the slightest.
“Some people think it’s a tricky fight, because Ryan’s very inconsistent, but it’s really difficult for me to rate Mario Barrios.
“Every time I wanna give him a chance, he just looks worse and worse. I think Ryan Garcia knocks out Mario Barrios.”
Barrios has only been stopped once in his professional career, when he found himself on the receiving end of an 11th-round finish against Gervonta Davis at super-lightweight in 2021.
