Undisputed Junior Middleweight Champion Jermell Charlo of Houston and San Antonio native and former WBA junior welterweight champ Mario Barrios will look to make it a Texas two-step in Las Vegas.
Charlo, 35-1-1 (19), captured the fourth belt at 154-pounds in his last outing, back in May 2022. He rallied and stopped Brian Castano in the 10th round of a thrilling rematch. Charlo set the record straight following their 2021 draw. He will now jump up two weight classes and look to become undisputed in his second weight class, a feat accomplished only once in the history of the four-belt era, Terence Crawford accomplished it two months ago by stopping DeSoto, native Errol Spence. He will face Mexican legend and four-division world champion Canelo Alvarez. Alvarez became undisputed in 2021 by stopping Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium, and Callum Smith. He then attempted to move to 175 and lost a one-sided affair to WBA champ Dmitry Bivol. He went back down to 168 and has outpointed GGG and John Ryder.
On the undercard is San Antonio-based fan favorite "El Azteca" Mario Barrios, 27-2 (18), who will battle former welterweight champ Yordenis Ugas of Cuba. Ugas last fought in April of 2022 and was stopped by Spence. Barrios moved up to 147 in 2022 and was outpointed by Keith Thurman, but bounced back nicely, in his first fight with trainer Bob Santos by stopping rugged contender Jovanie Santiago in February. A crossroads fight for each man, a win gets Barrios one giant step closer to being a two-division world champion. There has only been one two-division champ, that called Alamo City home. Bam Rodriguez accomplished the feat in April when he outpointed Cristian Gonzalez.