San Antonio's fourth-ever world champion, former WBA 140-Pound title holder Mario "El Azteca" Barrios, will officially meet up with former WBA 147-pound world title holder Yordenis Ugas. The fight will be a part of the Jermell Charlo, Houston, 35-1-1(19) VS Canelo Alvarez 59-2-2 (39) on September 30th at the T-Mobile in Las Vegas.
It's a crossroads fight for each man for the WBC interim title. It's an absolute win for each of the two combatants. Barrios suffered his first two losses consecutively to two future Hall of Famers in 2021 and 2022 to, Tank Davis and then Keith Thurman. Barrios bounced backed earlier this year with an eight-round demolition of Jovanie Santiago at the Alamodome. Barrios will look to pull the Texas two-step on Ugas, who lost his WBA world title to Errol Spence of DeSoto, Texas, at AT&T Stadium in April of 2022 via 10th-round TKO.
Ugas rejuvenated his career at 147 after suffering consecutive losses in 2014 at 140 pounds. Ugas went on a tear that started in 2016 and culminated with a world title-winning performance with a win over Abel Ramos in 2020 and then beating the legendary Manny Pacquiao into retirement in 2021. At 37 years old and coming off a 16-month layoff from the brutal loss to Spence, Ugas needs a win over a young warrior like Barrios to show he still belongs in the world title picture. "El Azteca" is 1-1 (1) as a welterweight and needs a win over an elite world-class fighter like Ugas, which will propel him into a world title fight with Terence Crawford.
In April, Bam Rodriguez became the first ever Alamo City native to become a two-division world champion when he outclassed Christian Gonzalez to capture the WBO Flyweight title. Barrios will put himself in a position to challenge for the WBC welterweight title and join his friend Bam as San Antonio's only two-division world champions.