Notebook: Barrios relishes now having full WBC title; Pacquiao next?
Exclusive Haney interview on Title Sports Network; Mbilli, Derevyanchenko expect hard fight; Quick hits; Show and tell
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
Mario Barrios had just been with his girlfriend at an appointment for a sonogram to check on the baby they are expecting in August and was driving home in San Antonio when he got the big news.
The WBC announced on Tuesday that the board of governors had voted in favor of elevating Barrios from his status as the organization’s interim welterweight titleholder to its full world champion a few weeks after it had re-classified Terence Crawford as a “champion in recess” but had not immediately removed Barrios’ interim designation.
Crawford is moving up to fight for a junior middleweight title on Aug. 3 and will still have the option to return to welterweight, as unlikely a move as that would be, and fight Barrios. But it is now Barrios who is the WBC full titleholder even though there was no dramatic reading of a result in the ring and the announcement every fighter dreams of hearing: “And the new…”
“I was in the middle of my drive and got the notification that it was announced. I was trying to soak it in,” Barrios told Fight Freaks Unite on Friday.
He found out about his new status by reading it on X (formerly Twitter).
I am in my 25th year of full-time boxing coverage. Take advantage of that experience by upgrading to a paid subscription for full access to all posts and comments — and also support independent journalism.
“It was very unexpected but me and my team are all very excited,” Barrios said. “We know now that all these big fights are here for us. Now having the WBC title, all those big fights are right there on the horizon.”
Barrios said he would have preferred to win the title in the ring and hear the announcement that he was a champion but he is still excited about his new status.
“I feel like if you ask most fighters that’s how we always pictured winning a world title,” Barrios said. “I would have much rather have fought for this title, for this position I’m now in. But regardless, I still put the work in to get into that spot. I’m still proud of where I am and will move forward and conduct myself as a champion and defend it.
“I would compare it to fighting in the amateurs and you go to a tournament and you win the tournament unopposed. You still got ready for it, you still were prepared.”
Barrios (29-2, 18 KOs), 29, won the vacant interim belt by one-sided decision over former WBA titlist Yordenis Ugas in a breakout performance last September and he made his first interim defense via unanimous decision over Fabian Maidana on May 4 on the Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia card.
Barrios knows some will derisively refer to him as an “email champion,” the snarky way some smart alecks on social media refer to fighters who are elevated from interim to full titles, but he doesn’t really care.
“As fighters we want to have that big fight, we want to win the title in the ring,” Barrios said. “But if you ask any of the champions who have been elevated, we still put in the work, we still put in all the years to get ourselves in that position, so we’re proud of where we got ourselves. Then we have to conduct ourselves as a champion and defend and the questions are then erased.”
Now that Barrios has the full title he’s right to say he will have opportunities for major fights. One could be a meeting with the legendary eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao, who is looking to exit retirement for a significant fight.
Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs), 45, retired following an August 2021 decision loss to Ugas in a welterweight title fight but the main reason for the retirement was because he was running for president of the Philippines. Pacquiao lost the election and has wanted to come back since.
He is scheduled to face Japanese kickboxer Chihiro Suzuki in a three-round boxing exhibition bout on July 28 on a RIZN card in Saitama, Japan, and hopes to have an official fight before the end of the year.
Barrios is a target, Sean Gibbons, the CEO of MP Promotions and Pacquiao’s right-hand man, told Fight Freaks Unite.
“We’ve talked about it and how we can find a way to do it with PBC, which works with Barrios,” Gibbons said. “We have a great relationship with Al Haymon and PBC and we’d love to do the fight. They’d like to do the fight, but we have to figure out the guarantees and if it makes sense for everyone. That needs to be sorted through and we’ve had conversations about doing it this fall, September or October.”
Gibbons said Pacquiao plans to launch a run for another term in the Philippines senate so ideally the fight would happen this fall ahead of the campaign that would begin in February. Barrios is game for the fight.
“Manny’s a legend in the sport and it’s crazy because I grew up watching him since I was a kid,” Barrios said. “So, now there’s a possibility (of fighting him). I thought it was crazy that he even knew who I was and that he wanted to fight me or that my name was mentioned by him. That was a pretty crazy moment. Me as a fighter, if that’s what Manny chooses to do, I would gladly welcome a fight with him and share the ring. It would be an honor. I would go in there looking to defend the WBC title.
“It’s like a full circle moment. I do think he’s a little ripe in age but there have been fighters, like Bernard Hopkins, who had successful careers late, very late. At the end of the day, he’s still a very dangerous fighter regardless of his age. He has experience and he’s been in there with basically everybody in the sport that had a big name.
“I personally don’t think it’s a smart move but if that’s what he chooses to do it would be a big fight. Whether it’s him or one of the other champions, I’m looking to have an extraordinary fight by the end of the year.”
If it’s not Pacquiao, Barrios would love to unify titles with fellow PBC fighter and WBA titlist Eimantas Stanionis, who also won May 4 on the Alvarez-Munguia card.
“That’s another possibility that’s out there,” Barrios said of Stanionis. “Now with the announcement that I’m a full champion it definitely kicked down whatever doors were left and whatever is next it has the potential to be a huge fight, whether it’s Pacquiao, whether it’s unifying with Stanionis, or possibly making a fight with (IBF titlist Jaron) ‘Boots’ (Ennis). Even (WBC junior welterweight titlist) Devin Haney has been calling me out. Whatever is next it will be big. My job is to be ready for it and conduct myself like a champion like I won it in the ring.”
Haney interview on Title Sports
Right after Ryan Garcia was issued a one-year suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission and forfeited his purse for his multiple drug test failures related to his April fight with Devin Haney on Thursday, I spoke to Haney about the situation in an exclusive interview. Check it out on Title Sports Network and also subscribe to the YouTube channel:
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed two and picked two fights: Rafael Espinoza’s WBO featherweight title defense against vs. Sergio Chirino in the Top Rank on ESPN+ main event Friday night and Tyler Denny’s European middleweight title defense against Felix Cash in the Matchroom Boxing main event on Saturday. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Mbilli-Derevyanchenko presser
Super middleweight contender Christian Mbilli has followed the career of Sergiy Derevyanchenko for years and now he will face him.
“When (Top Rank) offered us three names, I immediately told (trainer) Marc (Ramsay), ‘We want Derevyanchenko.’ I've been following his career since I was 15,” Mbilli said at the news conference this week to announce their bout. “He defeated many elite boxers from the French (amateur) team, but unfortunately turned professional when I moved up to seniors.”
Mbilli will step up in level of opposition and face Derevyanchenko in a 10-rounder that will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card Aug. 17 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada, where they also held the news conference.
“I've extensively analyzed Derevyanchenko's fights to perfect my technique,” Mbilli said. “It's an honor for me to fight him, and I intend to thank him by giving him the toughest fight of his life.”
The fight will be the second for Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs), 28, a 2016 Olympian for France, since Top Rank signed him to a co-promotional deal to work with Eye of the Tiger.
“Derevyanchenko should have won against Gennadiy Golovkin. He should have won against Carlos Adames,” EOTT promoter Camille Estephan said. “His coach just told me he should have stopped Jaime Munguia.
“A (Mbilli) victory would open many doors for us, but we don’t take Derevyanchenko for granted. It’s going to be a war, but we'll be prepared for it. That’s what we expect, a candidate for fight of the year.”
Derevyanchenko (15-5, 10 KOs), 38, a 2008 Olympian for Ukraine, who fights out of Brooklyn, New York, is a three-time middleweight title challenger. He is coming off a shutout 10-round decision win over Vaughn Alexander on April 20. It was Derevyanchenko’s first fight since moving up to super middleweight for a 12-round decision loss to Jaime Munguia in their savage 2023 BWAA fight of the year.
“I could have won in the past against the other guys, but the past is the past,” Derevyanchenko said. “I respect my opponent. Mbilli’s undefeated. He’s a strong guy, but I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve seen it all and I will be the winner on Aug. 17th.”
Quick hits
Weights from Birmingham, England, for Matchroom Boxing’s card Saturday (DAZN, 2 p.m. ET): Tyler Denny 159.5 pounds, Felix Cash 159.9 (for Denny’s European middleweight title); Lewis Crocker 149.6, Conah Walker 146.4; Cameron Vuong 139.3, Jeff Ofori 139.9; Shannon Ryan 113.8, Emma Dolan 114.8 (for vacant British women’s and Dolan’s Commonwealth junior bantamweight title); Hamza Uddin 117.4, Giulio Commerso 117.8; Aqib Fiaz 134.4, Kane Baker 135.4; Ibraheem Sulaimaan 135.7, Jesus Gonzalez 135.4; Muhammad Ali 124.4, Kelvin Madjid 123.2; Emanuel Odiase 254.3, Kevin Masirika 243.5.
Weights from Las Vegas for the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card Friday (7:30 p.m. ET): Rafael Espinoza 125.6 pounds, Sergio Chirino 125.6 (for Espinoza’s WBO featherweight title); Andres Cortes 130.8, Abraham Nova 129.7 (Cortes 0.8 pounds overweight, deal made, fight on); Troy Isley 158.9, Javier Martinez 159.8; Floyd Diaz 117.8, Francisco Pedroza 117.5; DJ Zamora 131.5, Jose Antonio Meza 131.2; Steven Navarro 115.7, Juan Pablo Meza 114.8; Bryan Polaco 156, Richard Acevedo 156.3.
The return of Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (51-4, 41 KOs), 37, the former pound-for-pound king, four-division champion and surefire Hall of Famer, will stream on ESPN+ in the United States on July 12 (9 p.m. ET), Top Rank announced, confirming a previous FFU report. The Nicaraguan legend returns from a 19-month layoff against former junior flyweight title challenger Rober Barrera (27-5 17 KOs), 31, of Colombia, in a Managua homecoming bout. The 10-round bantamweight bout tops an All Star Boxing card at the Alexis Arguello Sports Center, the arena named for the late Hall of Famer, who trained a young Gonzalez and was his mentor. If all goes well for Gonzalez, he wants to fight for a bantamweight title. The fight will be Gonzalez’s first since losing a debatable majority decision to rival Juan Francisco Estrada in their trilogy fight for the lineal/vacant WBC junior bantamweight title in December 2022.
Rising cruiserweight David Nyika (9-0, 8 KOs), 28, a 2020 Olympic bronze medalist from New Zealand, will fight exclusively on DAZN following an announcement Thursday that the streamer and Nyika promoter Duco Events has struck a multi-fight agreement. Nyika’s first bout of the deal will take place Sept. 14 at Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland, New Zealand. Co-promoting the event, in his promotional debut will be WBO interim heavyweight titlist and New Zealand native Joseph Parker. The event will be on DAZN worldwide but DAZN PPV in New Zealand. Nyika is coming off a fourth-round knockout of Michael Seitz on May 18 on the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Show and tell
Coming off his knockout win over Mike Tyson one year earlier in the biggest money fight in boxing history at that point, Lennox Lewis returned to defend the heavyweight championship in a hastily arranged fight with top contender Vitali Klitschko, which turned out to be the last fight of Lewis’ Hall of Fame career. It was supposed to be an HBO PPV doubleheader on which Lewis was to defend the title against Kirk Johnson in the main event with Klitschko to face Cedric Boswell in the co-feature as a prelude to a showdown in the fall if they both won. But Johnson pulled out with an injury about six weeks before the bout and rather than wait to fight each other, HBO anted up big money and moved the fight to regular HBO, and Lewis and Klitschko faced each other on an accelerated schedule.
They produced a legendary heavyweight title fight, the first heavyweight title fight in Los Angeles in 45 years. It was an old fashioned slugfest in which they delivered and withstood bombs. Lewis tore open a massive cut over Klitschko’s left eye in the third round, however, and by the end of the sixth round it was so bad that the fight was stopped on advice of the ringside doctor as Klitschko begged to continue. As it turned out, Klitschko, who needed some 60 stitches, was winning 58-56 on all three scorecards. It remains one of the great fights I have ever covered at ringside and it took place on June 21, 2003 — 21 years ago on Friday. Here is a scarce site poster and my ringside credential in my collection.
A note to subscribers
I sincerely appreciate your readership. If you’re reading, it means you love boxing just like I do. If you’ve been reading you also know the quality and quantity of what I produce. It’s one-stop shopping. Read the newsletters and there is no need to search multiple websites or click a multitude of links to get the latest news, opinion and detailed fight schedule. Everything you need is in one spot and delivered directly to your inbox (or via phone alert if you download for free the superb Substack app). You don’t have to hunt for the news; it comes to you.
I believe that is worth something, so while I will continue providing stories, notes and the schedule for free, I encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription for the most content. A paid subscription is your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism. I am beholden to no network, promoter, manager, sanctioning body or fighter. If you have read my work at all during the past 24 years I’ve covered professional boxing you know that I keep it real and that will not change.
To upgrade your subscription please go here:
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Photos: Barrios: Esther Lin/PBC; Mbilli-Derevyanchenko: Vincent Ethier/EOTT; Denny-Cash: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing
