Barrios Shines in Las Vegas Captures Interim Title. Charlo Comes Up Short in Historic Bid

San Antonio native "El Azteca" Mario Barrios put on a career-best performance in Las Vegas on the undercard of Canelo vs. Jermell Charlo.

Barrios, a former 140-pound world champion, walked into the ring a 3-1 underdog against former welterweight champion and Cuban native Yordenis Ugas. It was the second fight for Barrios with trainer Bob Santos, and it was his second highly-impressive performance.

Barrios showed patience and a more disciplined jab after shaking off a nice body shot Barrios, stayed the course, and that jab scored in the second round and put Ugas down. The 37-year-old Ugas fought back valiantly and scored a right hand that hurt Barrios in the 3rd and landed another big right that affected the Texan. Ugas followed up with a flurry. The fighter seemed even through the midway point. It seemed the fight was up for grabs going into the second half of the fight. El Azteca certainly seized control and dominated the second half of the fight. A right uppercut in the 8th stunned Ugas. Barrios couldn't miss with the right hand as Ugas's eye began swelling. The ringside physician was called in by the referee, who appeared like he wanted to stop the fight, in each of the last three rounds. A fight that likely should have been stopped, by someone continued into the 12th and final round. The Texan scored another knockdown with a picture-perfect left hook in the 12th. Ugas fired back and had some moments with the right hand. However, Barrios continued to get the best of scoring with some right hands of his own. Ugas was deducted a point for spitting his mouthpiece out. Barrios rolled to a wide unanimous points victory by scores of 117-108 and 118-107x2. The Texan, who picks up the WBC Interim title, which will eventually make him the mandatory for the WBC champion, which is currently Jermell Charlo, out-landed the Cuban 193 of 810 to Ugas's 86 of 277. The Alamo City native improved his record to 28-2 (18).

In the main event, Houston native Jermell Charlo came up well short in his bid to become a two-division undisputed champion and dropped a lopsided decision to Canelo Alvarez 118-109X2 and 119-108.

Charlo and Barrios in Action on PPV Card in Las Vegas

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.

Barrios to Meet Up with Ugas on Canelo-Charlo Card in Las Vegas

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.

Barrios Likely To Face Ugas This Summer

"El Azteca" Mario Barrios, of San Antonio, will likely be back in the ring this summer. July is being targeted for a showdown with former WBA champ Yordenis Ugas of Cuba. Ugas is coming off a 10th-round stoppage loss to Errol Spence of DeSoto last April at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The Ugas-Barrios bout will be for the WBC interim title, meaning the winner would likely be slated to fight the WBC World Champion. That champion at the moment is Errol Spence of DeSoto.

Ugas is currently ranked number two by the WBC, while Barrios is ranked fifth by the same organization. Typically the bout would be between the two top-ranked fighters in the weight class. However, Keith Thurman is currently ranked one by the WBC and is still expected to fight Spence in a non-title fight at 154 pounds. However, nothing on that fight has been made official, and Spence is still negotiating with WBO champ Terence Crawford.

Alternatively, the winner of the Ugas-Barrios interim title bout could also be ordered to fight the winner of the other WBC eliminator between Cody Crowley and Abel Ramos. That bout is scheduled for next week on the Plant-Benavidez card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Barrios sports a record of 27-2 (18), and bounced back off of his two consecutive losses last month in very impressive fashion. He stopped Jovanie Santiago in the eighth round of a one-sided bout. It was his first camp with trainer Bob Santos. Barrios previously held a 140-pound title from 2019 to 2021.