Mario Barrios is taking a big swing in his debut as a 147-pounder.
The former 140-pound contender is scheduled to face longtime welterweight kingpin Keith Thurman on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas, which follows his 11th-round knockout loss to Gervonta Davis in June.
Why jump directly into such a difficult matchup? Barrios wouldn’t be able to prove anything against a pushover.
“I’ve always said that I want the big fights,” said Barrios, who will be in his second consecutive pay-per-view main event. “I’m not scared to test myself. I don’t want to be one of those fighters who they call the best not fighting the best.
“My reason for taking on Keith Thurman is that I want to prove what I can do in the welterweight division.”
Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) has had seven months to digest what happened against Davis, a rising star and big puncher who moved up in weight to fight him.
He was competitive until Davis put him down with a left to the gut and stopped him with a follow-up flurry in the penultimate round. Of course, he was disappointed to suffer his first loss but he said he grew as a result of the experience.
And he was back in the gym a few weeks after the setback.
“I look at what I did right and I look at what I did wrong,” said Barrios, who has watched the fight multiple times. “Overall it was a great learning experience. Me and my team are happy with my performance even though I came away with my first defeat.
“It’s just part of boxing. I look back on small defensive mistakes I shouldn’t have been making. We worked on those things in this camp so it doesn’t happen again.”
Barrios won’t blame the loss on the difficulty making 140 pounds but it became clear to him that it was time to move up.
He started as a junior bantamweight in 2013, when he was 18 years old. However, he’s a relatively tall 5-foot-10 and had been fighting at 140 since 2017. Moving up to 147 has allowed him to focus more on boxing and less on weight.
“Yeah, I’ve been at 140 for like five years,” he said. “I was noticing fight by fight that it was getting harder and harder to cut the weight. … We had always said that with my frame I would be moving through the divisions. I’m just thankful that my team never tried to keep me at a weight that was draining my body.
“I’m excited to see what I can accomplish at welterweight.”
We should learn a great deal about how Barrios fits in at 147 a week from Saturday.
Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) is coming off a split-decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in July 2019, which cost him his world title. And the 33-year-old has battled a variety of injuries in recent years.
However, at his best, “One Time” is a dynamic boxer-puncher with a number of big-name opponents on his resume. And the time off, 2½ years, has allowed him to recover fully from his injuries.
Barrios recognizes all that but is confident going into the fight because of what he brings to the table.
“I have youth on my side,” he said. “I’m 26. I feel I’m just getting to my prime. And out of the two of us I feel I’m the bigger fighter. I’ll have a reach advantage, as I’ve had in a lot of my fights. My confidence is just as high as his even though he’s more of a talker. I like to let my work talk for me.
“A win against Keith Thurman does a lot. It automatically solidifies my presence in the welterweight division, it puts everyone on notice of what I can do.”