In a rather surprising announcement, Ryan Garcia has taken to social media to record himself signing a contract for a WBC welterweight title fight against Mario Barrios on February 21.
“Like I said, guys, I’m pretty tired right now. It’s a long day but I promised you guys I would have this video for you,” Garcia said. “My next fight announcement, here goes the contract right here like I promised you guys. Lupe was taking a little long but it’s okay, we still love him…Signed. I’m going to be fighting for the real WBC championship belt against Mario Barrios, Feb. 21. Get ready because I’m coming.”
The 27-year-old Garcia is one of boxing’s bigger stars around the welterweight division even despite his modest accomplishments in the ring. While Garcia is most recently coming off a dreadful loss to Rolando Romero, which in and of itself would presumably exclude Garcia from this opportunity, he will in fact be getting what will be his first shot at a major world title.
Naturally the WBC will face some ridicule here for blatantly chasing a bag by facilitating this move by Garcia — particularly considering the organization itself had Garcia banned from their rankings since the summer of 2024 for a number of racial comments he made publicly. That ban was from the WBC lifted this month, apparently just in time for Garcia to be thrown into the world championship mix.
Barrios, 30, is currently the reigning WBC welterweight champion although he’s generally considered to be one of the weaker titleholders in the sport, and is coming of back-to-back draws against Abel Ramos and Manny Pacquiao.
