Notebook: Barrios: No mercy if old man Pacquiao is in trouble
Usyk predicts he'll KO Dubois again; 'Pitbull' gets last-minute foe as Fierro out due to weight issues; PPV lineup; Quick hits; Show and tell
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LAS VEGAS — Since Mario Barrios was a kid he was a fan of watching Manny Pacquiao fights. Sometimes he rooted for the living legend, but never when he faced a Mexican opponent.
Barrios, a Mexican-American, cheered for the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Antonio Margarito when they faced the record-setting eight-division world champion. But Pacquiao won nearly all of his fights against Mexican opponents during such a dominant run that many called him the “Mexecutioner.”
“There have been plenty of fights where I’ve gone against him, especially as a kid. I grew up a very prideful Mexican kid,” Barrios told Fight Freaks Unite. “Anytime he fought a Mexican fighter, I was going against him.”
Now it will be Barrios himself across the ring from Pacquiao, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 8 but will end a four-year retirement at age 46 and challenge Barrios for his WBC welterweight title. The fight will headline a Premier Boxing Champions card on Saturday (Prime Video PPV, PPV.COM, 8 p.m. ET, $79.99) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where Pacquiao will fight for a record 16th time.
That will break a tie Pacquiao has been in with rival Floyd Mayweather and the MGM Grand honored Pacquiao by unveiling a banner commemorating the record in the arena rafters during Friday’s weigh-in.
I am in Las Vegas this week covering Pacquiao-Barrios so upgrade to a paid subscription, don’t miss any coverage and take advantage of the summer sale to get 10% off. You’ll have full access to all posts, the full archive and comment posting ability — and you will support independent journalism.
If Barrios has his way it will be Pacquiao’s last one because he will have vanquished the all-time great and sent him back into retirement.
“It’s all smiles between us right now, but when that bell rings, we’re going in there with bad intentions,” Barrios said. “He’s trying to take my title and I have to do whatever it takes to make sure he doesn’t.”
Barrios has been a bit player in the promotion because most of the attention has been lavished on Pacquiao. But Barrios has had his moments. When he was asked during Wednesday’s news conference what his favorite Pacquiao fight moment was he didn’t offer anything from a big Pacquiao win.
Instead, with Pacquiao sitting a few feet away from him, Barrios said his favorite Pacquiao moment was watching Marquez knock him out cold, face first, in the sixth round of the epic fourth fight of their rivalry that was the 2012 fight of the year and 2010s fight of the decade, which took place in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“He’s had so many victories over many Mexican fighters and now I’m a part of that,” Barrios said. “But I’m gonna be on the other side with my hand raised. I was a big Juan Manuel Marquez fan and when he knocked out Manny, that was one of my favorite moments.”
Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs), a southpaw from the Philippines, turned pro in 1995 — four months before Barrios was born. When presented with that unusual stat, Barrios was at a loss for words briefly.
“It's crazy to be able to say that the guy I'm fighting has been boxing professionally as long as I’ve been alive,” Barrios said.
Regardless of Pacquiao’s age and inactivity, a win would still be monumental for Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs), 30, of San Antonio.
“It’s a great honor for a legend like Manny to want to come back and fight for my title,” Barrios said. “This is my biggest fight so far and I’m excited to take it on.”
Barrios is a former WBA junior welterweight titlist. He lost that belt by 11th-round knockout to Gervonta Davis in 2021 and in his next fight moved up to welterweight and dropped a decision to former Pacquiao victim Keith Thurman in his 2022.
Barrios is 3-0-1 since, including winning the vacant WBC interim welterweight belt in 2023 by outpointing Yordenis Ugas, who outpointed Pacquiao in a 2021 welterweight title defense and sent him into retirement.
Barrios was later elevated to full titleholder and is coming off a draw in his first defense in a 2024 fight of the year candidate against Abel Ramos on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson undercard in November.
Barrios, taller and longer than Pacquiao, said he has no qualms about being the so-called bad guy against the beloved Pacquiao. One of the constants in boxing is a younger, hungry fighter making his name off beating an aging former champion. If Barrios has to batter Pacquiao so be it. He plans to show no mercy if he has the old man in trouble.
“I mean sadly, yeah. That’s boxing, right,” Barrios said. “I know Pacquiao also understands very well the way things work in the sport. I get asked if I’m afraid to be the bad guy, and I’m not. Again, I know it’s a business and everything is smiles and good between us. But I know once we step into the fight if at any point Pacquiao sees he has me hurt that killer instinct is there. That’s not going nowhere. It’s just business.
“If I have him hurt, it’s just sorry, not sorry. Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m still gonna tip my hat to you, but I’m gonna take care of business.”
Usyk predicts KO win
Lineal/unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk rarely has much to say during the buildup to any of his fights and he has never been in the prediction business.
But has been a bit more verbose this week and even offered a prediction ahead of his unification rematch for the undisputed title against IBF titleholder Daniel Dubois, whom he will face before a sold-out crowd of 90,000 on Saturday (DAZN PPV, 12:30 p.m. ET, $59.99 in U.S.) at Wembley Stadium in Dubois’ hometown of London.
Asked at the fight week news conference if he would win by stoppage Usyk got right to the point.
“Yeah, I believe this,” Usyk said.
He has good reason to be confident. When he faced then-WBA “regular” titlist and mandatory challenger Dubois in Wroclaw, Poland, in August 2023, Usyk thoroughly dominated and was way ahead on all three scorecards — 79-72, 79-72 and 78-73 — when he dropped Dubois with a jab in the ninth round and he quit on his knee while taking the 10-count.
All Dubois had to hang his hat on was a fifth-round body shot correctly ruled a low blow by referee Luis Pabon that Dubois and his team bitterly complained about, saying it was a legal punch.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), 27, who was elevated to IBF full titlist when Usyk was forced to vacate, costing him his undisputed status, has won three fights in a row by knockout against top opponents — Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic for the vacant interim belt, and, most recently, Anthony Joshua at Wembley last September in his first defense after being elevated.
Usyk has been a road warrior his entire career, regularly boxing in his opponent’s hometown or country. He has plenty of good memories of England, including London.
“I am happy to be here again,” Usyk said of the city where he won a 2012 Olympic gold medal. He is 3-0 as a pro in England. He knocked out Tony Bellew in Manchester his final cruiserweight title defense in 2018, outpointed Derek Chisora in 2020 in London, and outpointed Joshua to win the unified WBO/IBF/WBA titles in their first fight there in 2021.
“Why will it be my night? Because I believe in this,” Usyk continued. “I hope and I prepare for this fight. Listen, every one of my fights is important to me and my team. Now it is very important for me and my country of (Ukraine), the soldiers who protect my country. It is motivation for my people. It is very important for me.”
Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs), a southpaw, who is coming off close decision wins in back-to-grueling fights with Tyson Fury, downplayed those who have claimed he is on the downslide at age 38.
“Listen, I respect this guy (Dubois). This (is) young guy,” Usyk said. “This guy is motivated, but I am too. I am not an old guy — 38 is not old. We will see on Saturday.”
New foe for ‘Pitbull’
The rematch between former WBA junior welterweight titlist Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and Mexican countryman Angel Fierro is off and Cruz will instead face replacement opponent Omar Salcido on the Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios undercard on the PBC card on Saturday (Prime Video PPV, PPV.COM, 8 p.m. ET) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Fierro, who was badly dehydrated, could not make the 140-pound limit on Friday morning. He suffered health issues and was taken to the hospital as a precaution, knocking him out of the fight.
Instead, Cruz will take on Salcido in a 10-rounder for the vacant WBC interim junior welterweight title. Salcido (20-2, 14 KOs), 25, of Mexico, was set to fight Brian Gallegos in an eight-round preliminary bout and accepted an offer to move onto the pay-per-view to replace Fierro.
“This is what I’ve been looking for since I started,” Salcido said through an interpreter. “It’s what every fighter looks for. I’m really happy. I’m really motivated, and I’ll tell you what — you’re going to have a new (interim) champion come Saturday night.”
In October, Salcido scored his biggest win when he knocked out Chris Colbert in the ninth round of an upset. But in his next fight, in January, Salcido lost a wide 10-round decision to 2020 Cuban Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz.
Trainer Robert Garcia, who was working with Fierro for the first time, said he made the call to pull Fierro out of the fight and send him to the hospital.
“I want to start off by apologizing to all the fans that made the trip to Vegas, to Pitbull and his team and everyone involved in the fight,” Garcia posted to social media. “I made the decision (Friday) morning to not allow my fighter, Angel Fierro, to cut anymore weight and instructed our team to take him to the hospital. I have a responsibility to not only prepare my fighter to fight, but also to keep him safe. The last few lbs were going to be too dangerous for him to cut and I made the decision to pull him out. Again we apologize to everyone involved.”
Cruz (27-3-1, 18 KOs), 27, and Fierro (23-3-2, 18 KOs), 26, battled in a legit fight of the year contender in February. Cruz won 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 in his first fight since he lost a split decision and his 140-pound world title in his first defense to Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela last August. Fierro sought a rematch and Cruz was agreeable.
“When it comes to Salcido, we thank him for taking this fight and accepting it on short notice,” Cruz said through an interpreter. “He saved the fight, so I appreciate that. And as far as Fierro goes, I don’t have an opinion on unprofessional people like him and I’m moving on to fight for this (interim) title and give it my all on Saturday night.”
Pacquiao-Barrios PPV lineup
Welterweights: Mario Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) vs. Manny Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs), 12 rounds, for Barrios’ WBC title
Junior middleweights: Sebastian Fundora (22-1-1, 14 KOs) vs. Tim Tszyu (25-2, 18 KOs), rematch, 12 rounds, for Fundora’s WBC title
Junior welterweights: Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz vs. Omar Salcido, 10 rounds, for vacant WBC interim title
Featherweights: Brandon Figueroa (25-2-1, 19 KOs) vs. Joet Gonzalez (27-4, 15 KOs), 12 rounds, WBA title eliminator
Preliminaries free on Prime Video (5:30 p.m. ET)
Lightweights: Gary Russell Jr. (31-2, 18 KOs) vs. Hugo Castaneda (15-2-1, 11 KOs), 10 rounds
Junior featherweights: Alan David Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) vs. Kyonosuke Kameda (15-4-2, 9 KOs), 10 rounds
Junior lightweights: Mark Magsayo (27-2, 18 KOs) vs. Jorge Mata Cuellar (21-2-2, 13 KOs), 10 rounds
The Main Event appearance
I joined the one and only Aliyah Orozco from The Main Event in the Pacquiao-Barrios media center to preview the full pay-per-view card. We also discussed Ryan Garcia’s future and the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight. Check out the video here:
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked four fights from a huge weekend: the Oleksandr Usyk-Daniel Dubois rematch for the undisputed heavyweight title in London; Manny Pacquiao’s return from retirement to challenge Mario Barrios for his WBC welterweight title and the co-feature, WBC junior middleweight titlist Sebastian Fundora’s rematch with Tim Tszyu in Las Vegas; and the Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez-Phumelele Cafu junior bantamweight unification bout in Frisco, Texas. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from London for the Queensberry Promotions card on Saturday (DAZN PPV, 12:30 p.m. ET): Oleksandr Usyk 227.3 pounds, Daniel Dubois 243.8 (rematch, unification for lineal/undisputed heavyweight title); Lawrence Okolie 262.4, Kevin Lerena 232.5; Daniel Lapin 174.1; Lewis Edmonson 174.1; Vladyslav Sirenko 256.3, Solomon Dacres 235.9; Aadam Hamed 144.1, Ezequiel Gregores - 145.1; Lasha Guruli 139.5; James Francis 137.1.
Weights from Las Vegas for the PBC card on Saturday (Prime Video PPV, PPV.COM, 8 p.m. ET): Mario Barrios 146.2 pounds, Manny Pacquiao 146.8 for Barrios’ WBC welterweight title); Sebastian Fundora 152.6, Tim Tszyu 153.2 (rematch, for Fundora’s WBC junior middleweight title); Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz 138.8, Omar Salcido 139.4 (for vacant WBC interim junior welterweight title); Brandon Figueroa 126, Joet Gonzalez 125 (WBA featherweight eliminator); Joseph Brown 154.8, Aaron Watson 152.8; Gary Russell Jr. 131.6, Hugo Castaneda 135.8; Alan David Picasso 125.8, Kyonosuke Kameda 126; Mark Magsayo 129, Jorge Mata, 129; Eumir Marcial 162, Bernard Joseph 161.8.
Weights from Frisco, Texas, for the Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday (DAZN, 7 p.m. ET): Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez 114.8 pounds, Phumelele Cafu 115 (lineal/WBC/WBO junior bantamweight unification); Diego Pacheco 168, Trevor McCumby 168; Austin Williams 158.4, Ivan Vazquez 159.6; Omari Jones 149.4, Alfredo Blanco 150.2; Hector Beltran Jr. 154, Edgar Gutierrez 153.4; Nishant Dev 155.8, LaQuan Evans 156.2; Pablo Valdez 156, Robert Redmond Jr. 154.2.
Show and tell
Canelo Alvarez was 15 when he turned pro in October 2005, meaning his 20th anniversary as a pro will be a month after he defends the undisputed super middleweight title against Terence Crawford on Sept. 13 in the biggest fight of the year. Throughout his long and glorious career, Alvarez has beaten a slew of top opponents, won world titles in four divisions (junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight), spent time as the consensus pound-for-pound king, and become the biggest star in the sport. It is not outlandish to believe that he may have surpassed Julio Cesar Chavez as the greatest fighter from Mexico. Appreciate Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KOs) while he is still around because it won’t last forever. On Friday — July 18 — he turned 35. Happy birthday! I have tons of Canelo material in my collection and here is just one item, a very limited HBO poster from when he routed Matthew Hatton by lopsided decision in 2011 to win the vacant WBC junior middleweight, the first world title of his career.
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Photos: Pacquiao-Barrios, Barrios, Cruz-Salcido, Fundora-Tszyu: Esther Lin/PBC; Usyk-Dubois: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry; Rodriguez-Cafu: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing
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Any word on who the referee will be in Wembley tonight ?