Jeff Mayweather has offered his thoughts on Mario Barrios vs Ryan Garcia, while caveating his prediction by suggesting that both men can win by knockout.
The pair will collide for Barrios’ WBC world welterweight title this Saturday, headlining a card at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Despite being the defending champion, ‘El Azteca’ is yet to establish his reign with a victory, having tied his last two outings against Abel Ramos and Manny Pacquiao.
Many even felt that Pacquiao, despite being 16 years his opponent’s senior, had done enough to edge their closely-fought contest last July.
As for Garcia, the 27-year-old comes off a unanimous decision defeat to Rolando Romero, who also scored a second-round knockdown, in May, which followed his controversial outing with Devin Haney in April 2024.
Back then, ‘King Ry’ claimed a majority decision victory which, due to the American testing positive for banned substance ostarine, was later overturned to a no-contest.
As a result, Garcia was handed a year-long ban by the New York State Athletic Commission and, based on his performance against Romero, has not looked the same fighter ever since.
When asked about the Barrios fight on his YouTube channel, Jeff Mayweather insisted that there are now question marks over Garcia’s ability as a fighter.
“Ryan had one, masterful, great performance – against Devin Haney. And the sad part about that is that, at the end of the day, he was on something. And he got caught for it.
“So, basically, is Ryan really as good as he seemed to be [against Haney]? He seems like he’s a great fighter but, ever since that fight against Devin, [he’s looked] ordinary.
“I think either guy [Garcia and Barrios] can win by knockout, because both guys can punch. [But] with [Garcia] being caught [failing a drugs test], and then with him fighting Rolly [Romero] and looking way less than average… I have to go [with] Barrios.”
Despite his limitations, Barrios is known for always bringing a high-intensity approach to the ring, while Garcia seemed to lack such urgency in his last fight against Romero.