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INSIDE THE RING: Mario Barrios faces Ryan Garcia ahead of Las Vegas fight

San Antonio’s Mario Barrios will defend his world championship belt next month

LOS ANGELES, California – Rumors spread for over a month that Mario Barrios and Ryan Garcia would fight each other in 2026. Last week, the announcement was made official.

From the announcement alone, the fighters are already battling it out over whose name should go first on the fight poster.

Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs) will defend his WBC World Welterweight championship belt against Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs) on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

San Antonio’s “El Azteca” is coming off back-to-back draws, first to Abel Ramos in 2024 and against Manny Pacquiao last year. Garcia’s last fight was an unanimous loss to Rolando Romero in Times Square almost nine months ago.

On Thursday afternoon, the fighters took to Los Angeles to promote their fight in a press conference.

The conference took a dramatic turn when Garcia called out his former trainer Joe Goossen, who is now training Barrios for his title defense.

This main event bout will air live on DAZN pay-per-view. It remains unclear how much the PPV event will cost.

You can catch the latest on San Antonio boxing news weekly during KSAT Sports Now, streaming live Monday through Friday at 7:00 p.m. on KSAT Plus and KSAT.com .


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