Mario Barrios Expects Welterweight Unification Fights In ‘Exciting’ 2025
WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios has predicted an “exciting” 2025 for his division and expects next year to feature several unification bouts.
Barrios (29-2-0 18 KO) makes the first defense of his WBC title on November 15 when he faces Abel Ramos (28-6-2 22 KO) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson.
The 29-year-old Texan claimed the WBC’s interim belt by defeating former world champion Yordenis Ugas in a wide points decision in September 2023. He defended the belt once, against Fabian Maidana in May, before getting elevated to full champion after Terence Crawford officially decided to remain at super-welterweight.
With all four belts at 147lbs evenly distributed among four different fighters, there was widespread expectation that unification bouts would take place immediately. However, talks between IBF champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and WBO title holder Brian Norman Jr collapsed, and an offer for Ennis to fight the WBA’s Eimantas Stanionis was rejected, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Ennis will instead fight mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian on November 9, much to the annoyance of Hearn and boxing fans (Boots already beat Chukhadzhian in a shutout points win last year).
Norman, meanwhile, was scheduled to fight Derrieck Cuevas on November 8 only for a hand injury to postpone their bout until next year, while Stanionis is in talks to face top-ranked challenger Shakhram Giyasov.
These are hardly the unification match-ups the fans were promised when the belts got splintered, but Barrios is convinced those fight are just around the corner.
“I think 2025 is going to be a really exciting year for the welterweight division,” Barrios said. “I feel like all of us champions have the same mentality – we all want to fight the best. We all want to bring these big fights to the fans, and that’s more than likely to happen.”
When speaking about his potential unification opponents – assuming all the champions retain their titles in their upcoming bouts – Barrios believes agreeing a deal with Stanionis would be the simplest to arrange considering both fighters’ involvement with Premier Boxing Champions. Barrios has spent his whole career with the PBC, while Stanionis has been a regular on the company’s shows.
As for who he believes would be the most challenging opponent, Barrios picked Ennis: “He’s the most difficult, skill-wise.”
In Ramos, Barrios faces an experienced operator who has mixed it with several top fighters, including former super-lightweight world champion Regis Prograis, Cody Crowley, and Ugas. All of those fights ended in defeat and Barrios is determined to add his name to the list.
“I want to continue to show my skills and abilities and prove why I’m champion in the first place,” the WBC champion said.
Barrios will fight Ramos on an intriguing card headlined by YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul and former heavyweight world champion Tyson, now 58 years old and 19 years removed from his last professional fight. The show also includes a mega-fight rematch between undisputed women’s super-lightweight champion Katie Taylor and seven-weight champion Amanda Serrano.
Barrios admits he’s not sure what to expect from such an event, saying: “I’m asking a lot of the same questions. I’ve been with PBC since early in my career, and this is the first time I’m on a different network, a different promotional company. I’m very curious – Jake Paul and Mike Tyson in the main event, it’s kind of out of the ordinary.”
