By: Sean Crose

Let’s face it tomorrow night’s WBC welterweight title fight between Ryan Garcia and Mario Barrios is all about Garcia. At least that’s how it’s being presented. And frankly that’s understandable. Garcia is a showy flashy fighter who brings in eyeballs and dollars. While Barrios is the champion, it’s going to be Garcia who people are mainly interested in. It’s worth keeping in mind however that Barrios isn’t a half bad fighter. Sure he fought an over the hill Manny Pacquiao to a majority draw, but that doesn’t mean he should be written off entirely as a fighter.

Barrios is not likely going to go down as an all-time great though one never knows. It really doesn’t matter though. All he has to do to create a defining moment in his career is outshine Garcia in the ring. Either that or stop him early. Should he do that, Barrios will be the toast of the sport. Should he fail to do that? He will be relegated to being an obscure name of a certain time and place in the sport’s history. And he certainly doesn’t want to end up like that. With that being said, the Barrios-Garcia fight, which is going down in Vegas as a pay per view event, is likely to come down to one question: Can Barrios avoid or take Garcia’s power?

It’s worth keeping in mind that Pacquiao was able to land on Barrios and Barrios got through the fight fine, at least in a physical sense. Can he survive getting rocked by a young Garcia? It’s a question that the entire bout might likely ride on. Tellingly, though, Barrios has sound footwork which may very well help him keep out of range of Garcia’s right. Proficient footwork might also help to frustrate and exhaust Garcia as the fight goes on.

Of course, Barrios has to go into the ring on Saturday expecting the very best version of Garcia, which is what he may well be facing. He’s had some career trouble as of late, but there’s no denying Garcia is a talented and extremely dangerous fighter. If he’s determined to reestablish himself as one of boxing’s most prominent names, he’s going to be sharp. Whether or not Barrios will rise to the occasion remains to be seen. This may be the start of something very big for Barrios – or it could signal the beginning of the end.