Tim Bradley became a world champion in two weight divisions during his time in the ring, but now the 42-year-old Californian has told another two-weight conqueror to walk away from the sport, believing his best days to be behind him.
Bradley held the WBC and WBO super-lightweight world titles and the WBO welterweight crown, defeating Junior Witter, Kendall Holt and Manny Pacquiao to get his hands on each of those belts.
Meanwhile, Mario Barrios held the WBA (Regular) title in the super-lightweight division by defeating Botirzhon Akhmedov and was upgraded to WBC welterweight world champion in June 2024.
Heading into his fight against Ryan Garcia on Saturday night, Barrios had remarkably made two defences of the title but had not won a world title contest since 2020, having retained the 147lb belt with draws against Abel Ramos and Pacquiao.
Before the fight Bradley expected Garcia to be an ‘easy’ stylistic match-up for Barrios.
“Mario Barrios, if you don’t get this done, man, damn. This should be easy for you, easy.
“[Joe] Goossen, if you don’t get this done, you worked with this man, Ryan Garcia, you worked side-by-side with this man for several fights. If you don’t get this done with Mario Barrios, you are a sorry a** trainer too.”
“Ryan Garcia is fake trash. Doo-doo butter. Yeah, Ryan, you trash. You ain’t got no right hand, you take your left hand away and it is over with.”
“All it takes is somebody that is tough, somebody that is smart. Take that left hand away from your a** and you are done, bro. Put your a** in that scary [Philly] shell, where you turn your back? You are done, my boy. You ain’t got no boxing skills, no real skills.”
However, after Garcia scored a knockdown and dictated the entirety of the contest to claim the WBC welterweight strap, Bradley has now stated that Barrios should retire from boxing, labelling the performance of ‘El Azteca’ as ‘horrible’.
“Barrios stayed mid-range the whole damn fight, man, when you going to get outside, use that range and use those angles, man. [You will] not get hit with that s**t.
“This was a horrible performance by Mario Barrios, man. You need to hang ‘em up, bro. Say goodbye! Yeah, you need to go, my dude. For real, bro, your last two performances, they have been doo-doo, straight up butter.”
Garcia went on to call for a fight with super-lightweight star Shakur Stevenson during the aftermath of his win, but the Newark southpaw maintains that any potential fight must take place at a catchweight of 144lbs.