Mario Barrios will defend his WBC welterweight title against #8 Abel Ramos in a 12-round fight on November 15th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs) will make his first defense of his World Boxing Council belt on the undercard of YouTuber Jake Paul vs. Making Mike Tyson on Netflix.
Ramos (28-6-2, 22 KOs) has lost two of his last three fights and is not the ideal challenger to compete 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 type fight.
It’s still not a sure thing to win for Barrios, who is a vulnerable fighter who is not a true top talent. Although Barrios is a two-division world champion, at 147 he is considered a mail-order champion.
Barrios won his WBA 140-pound title, beating Batyr Akhmedov by a 12-round unanimous decision in 2019, but then lost the belt, losing to Gervonta Davis by an 11th-round knockout in 2021. Ring rust Keith Thurman beat Barrios dominate in 2022. ended a nearly three-year layoff to win a twelve-round unanimous decision.
Ramos, 33, has recent losses to Cody Crowley, Luke Santamaria and Yordenis Ugas. In May 2021, Ramos scored a sixth-round victory over former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr. in a narrow upset. Ramos is coming off a fifth-round knockout win over Juan Ramon Guzman last April.
The 29-year-old Texas native Barrios was recently elevated from interim champion to full champion by the WBC after Terence Crawford moved up to 154. Crawford was 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 because there is no money in that fight.
Barrios was rumored to defend his WBC welterweight title against Manny Pacquiao, but nothing came of it. Barrios would have been heavily criticized had he defended his WBC title against the 45-year-old Pacquiao, who has not fought in three years since 2021 and is not ranked in the top 15 by the sanctioning body.
If Barrios successfully defends his WBC belt against Ramos, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn could offer him good money to face IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis in a unification. Barrios has one of the belts Boots wants to capture so he can become the undisputed champion at 147.
