Claressa Shields Reveals Prediction for Barrios vs Garcia Fight Claressa Shields has made surprise pick for the Mario Barrios and Ryan Garcia fight as the two showdown in Las Vegas tonight

Ryan Garcia meets WBC champion Mario Barrios in the ring tonight at the MGM Arena for the WBC welterweight championship as Garcia looks to win the first world championship of his career.

The King suffered a shocking decision loss to Rolly Romero in his last bout, and besides being the bookies’ favorite to claim victory, many fighters have Garcia to come up short again, with Conor Benn and Tim Bradley both predicting Barrios to retain his WBC belt.

Claressa Shields picks between Ryan Garcia and Mario Barrios
Barrios vs Garcia
Barrios vs Garcia | IMAGO / Pacific Press Agency
Despite her dislike for Ryan Garcia, when speaking to DAZN, Shields predicted the ‘Flash’ to claim his first world championship, suggesting ‘Barrios doesn’t have an extra gear in him’.

“I don’t like Ryan Garcia at all, but I will say that I think that he will become champion against Mario Barrios. That’s not a knock to Mario Barrios. It seems like when it gets time for Mario Barrios to go that extra mile, he doesn’t do it.

“He’s a great fighter. He has great skill, great fundamentals, but he doesn’t use them. It’s like he fights to be in a tie. It’s like his fights are almost like watching a sparring match of two guys going 70 or 80 percent.”

The ‘GWOAT’ will also fight this weekend, facing Franchon Crews-Dezurn in a heated rematch in Detroit for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Shields unimpressed by Barrios’ performance agaisnt Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao and Mario Barrios
Manny Pacquiao and Mario Barrios | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire
Shields critiqued Barrios’ recent record, specifically touching on his recent draw with Manny Pacquiao, as the key reason why Garcia may be too much for the current WBC welterweight champion tonight.

“Pacquiao is great, but no way that old guy should have been able to get in there and do anything with Mario Barrios,” she said. “He had a draw against him. Now we have Ryan Garcia, who is way more athletic.

MORE: Watch Mario Barrios Face Ryan Garcia Live On DAZN

“He got that hook. He’s skilled himself, and he knows that this is a fight that all he has to do is just keep pressing and pressing and throwing quick punches. I don’t know if Mario Barrios is going to push past his limits to where he can actually win a fight.

“I think that this is a perfect opportunity for Ryan to become a world champion after these fights and all these attempts. Good for Ryan if he can win. They’re both probably evenly matched as fighters. But I just feel like Mario Barrios is just too laid back as a fighter. He doesn’t know how to win rounds dominantly. It’s like if the fight is kind of close, he wants to keep it close. You have to dominate.”

 

Garcia is one of boxing’s top stars, though various missteps have set his career back at multiple times. After starting his career 23-0, Garcia was dominated by Gervonta “Tank” Davis before Davis scored a seventh-round knockout with a body shot. Two fights later, Garcia put on a career-best performance, knocking down WBC junior welterweight champion Devin Haney multiple times en route to a majority decision victory. Unfortunately, Garcia missed weight for the bout, seemingly not even attempting to make the junior welterweight limit after months of apparent struggles with a mental illness episode playing out on social media. Compounding those issues, Garcia failed his drug test for the fight and the result was overturned to a no-contest.

 

The champ Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs) is a significant betting underdog (+190) on BetMGM against the challenger Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs), who remains one of the biggest names in boxing.

The Garcia vs. Barrios five-fight main card kicks off at 9 p.m. ET on DAZN pay-per-view. Prior to that, a three-fight undercard streams live and free at 6 p.m. ET below. Featured on that preliminary card is a middleweight bout between Amari Jones (15-0, 13 KOs) and Luis Arias (22-6, 11 KOs), heavyweights Joshua Edwards (5-0, 5 KOs) vs. Brandon Colantonio (7-1, 1 KO), and a super featherweight collision between Mohammed Alakel (7-0, 1 KO) and David Calabro (5-1, 3 KOs).

Main Card (DAZN PPV, 9 p.m. ET)

WBC welterweight title: Mario Barrios vs. Ryan Garcia

WBA super lightweight title: Gary Antuanne Russell vs. Andy Hiraoka

IBF super lightweight title: Richardson Hitchins vs. Oscar Duarte Jurado

Super lightweight: Frank Martin vs. Nahir Albright

Super middleweight: Bektemir Melikuziev vs. Sena Agbeko

Live-streamed undercard (Uncrowned, 6 p.m. ET)

Middleweight: Amari Jones vs. Luis Arias

Heavyweight: Joshua Edwards vs. Brandon Colantonio

Super featherweight: Mohammed Alakel vs. David Calabro

• Location : Las Vegas

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