Mario Barrios will defend his WBC welterweight title against #8 Abel Ramos in a 12-round bout on November 15 at 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 of his last three fights and is not a worthy contender to challenge for a world title against Barrios. However, this fight will help Barrios by giving him a better chance to hold on to his WBC title and look good in a showcase fight.
This is not a guarantee that Barrios wins, he is a vulnerable fighter who is not a real top talent. Although Barrios is a two-division world champion, he is considered a mail-order champion at 147.
Barrios captured his WBA 140-lb title, defeating Batyr Akhmedov via a 12-round unanimous decision in 2019, but then lost the belt, losing to Gervonta Davis by 11th round decision in 2021. without a three-year layoff to win a twelve-round unanimous decision.
Ramos, 33, has lost recently to Cody Crowley, Luke Santamaria, and Yordenis Ugas. In May 2021, Ramos scored a sixth-round stoppage over former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. with little irritation. Ramos is coming off a fifth round victory over Juan Ramon Guzman last April.
The 29-year-old Texas native, Barrios, was recently promoted by the WBC from interim champion to full champion after Terence Crawford moved up to 154. Crawford has been given the ‘Champion in recess’ tag by the WBC, allowing him to return to the 147-lb division to challenge Barrios for his belt at any time. He is not expected to do that because there is no money in that fight.
There were rumors that Barrios would defend his WBC welterweight title against Manny Pacquiao, but nothing came of it. Barrios would have been heavily criticized if he had defended his WBC title against Pacquiao, 45, who has not fought in three years since 2021 and is not ranked in the top 15 by the judging panel.
If Barrios successfully defends the WBC belt against Ramos, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn may offer him good money to face IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in the unification. Barrios has one of the belts that Boots wants to take to become the undisputed champion at 147.
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