By: Sean Crose
Although it would be his first fight in the welterweight division, 26-1 Mario Barrios chose to plunge right into the fire by facing talented former title runner Keith Thurman, 29-1. “I believe we will shock the world on February 5th,” he said Fight Hub’s Marcos Villegas leads the way against Thurman this Saturday. When asked about the argument that Thurman’s skills had faltered – in large part due to a lack of activity – Barrios was concerned with the matter. “Boxing fans are sometimes the worst fans,” he said. “They quickly build a boxer and then the next day destroy them.”
Thurman, Barrios said, “has the skill set. He has strength. He has confidence in himself which makes him a dangerous fighter all the time. Although Thurman was last seen losing to Manny Pacquiao over two years ago, Barrios has made it clear that he wants to take a broader view of things. “Me and my team, we look at the whole job,” he said. “The way he (Thurman) fights Pacquiao, the way he fights Lopez, that’s not going to be the way he fights me.”
Barrios’ final match saw him blocked by Gervonta Davis in the eleventh round. It was a tough pill to swallow for the twenty-six-year-old, especially when one considers the fact that he was considered the winner of the match at the time of the stoppage. Fortunately for Barrios, the people closest to him helped him learn from his first taste of failure. “I have a good circle around me… that has kept me in place,” he says. “In the first week after the war, I was absorbed in it a lot.” Now, however, Texans can try to turn lemons of the past into lemonade. “I learned a lot,” he said, thinking about the Davis loss. “We were able to take away a lot from that fight.”
With his past behind him, Barrios went on to point out that Saturday’s fight between him and Thurman will not lack for action. “I think with Keith’s and me’s style, it’s hard to see this fight come to fruition,” he asserted. “I know Keith is going hungry. He has a point to prove – but so do I. The Thurman-Barrios Card will be broadcast live on PBC and Fox Sports pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this Saturday, starting at 9pm ET.
