![]() “If he’s standing tall, a shorter fighter can go underneath his position and also go over the top easier because you present a bigger target. Not standing straight up-he’s down in (bending) his legs,” said Hunter. Hunter explained that why and when an educated, tall fighter like Barrios may choose to employ an approach observers might not expect. Many fighters struggle with how to best use their height and reach and fight at a given range. So it’s designed to hold up the attack just for a split second to allow Mario to readjust his position.” “ If you keep focus on what’s going on inside the ring, you’re able to deal with the adversity that’s coming your way. It also gives the opponent a deterrent not to attack, to make him get the sense that he has to go through something. ![]() It lets you know the distance the opponent is at. Hunter explained the “why” of this elite tactic. In some of his recent fights, Barrios can be seen extending his lead hand after firing a combination. All those enhance his defensive capabilities.” Different forms of attack from his sparring partners. “There are drills you can do-eye drills and giving him different looks in sparring. “You can always make a fighter defensively better,” said Hunter. As long as the fighter understands the importance of it, it only enhances him to not fall apart when he’s tired and fatigued.” “But every now and then I make suggestions. “Most of all he’s left to himself to just get into his own mental groove,” said Hunter. Though the number of rounds varies day to day, Hunter ensures Barrios does a minimum of five rounds of it. Hunter has Barrios practice shadowboxing daily. He’ll maintain his form even when he’s fatigued.” His form will not suffer because of the rounds and rounds of shadowboxing. ![]() It helps a fighter maintain his form (offensive and defensive) even when he’s tired. “Shadowboxing is the main focus to footwork, to enhance the muscle memory and to do certain in-and-out drills, lateral drills, until it’s just locked in. “That fight proved to me that Mario carries his power late in the fight and that he’s able to endure a tough fight like that,” said Hunter. Despite the grueling nature of the contest, Barrios was able to set up his punches by utilizing superior foot positioning to hurt and twice drop Akhmedov. ![]() All those are mechanisms to increase the power of the punch.”īarrios fought Batyr Akhmedov in a tough fight in September 2019. So we work on his accuracy, his leverage, and his timing. The better accuracy, the more effective the punch is. The other part of it is he was born with a natural punch. He’s got fast-twitch muscles when he punches, so he does get good leverage. has been a great asset to him and we try to make it even better. “He’s starting to understand the range and distance. “Mario’s jab is getting better and better,” said Hunter. That’s largely attributed to Barrios having a better understanding of how to achieve greater accuracy and better leverage on his shots. Since Barrios began working with Hunter, his number of knockouts has skyrocketed. Hunter took time away from Barrios’ training camp to give his considerable insights into the fundamentals of boxing. Hunter has also coached Amir Khan, Andre Berto, Abner Mares and others. Hunter is a living legend in boxing, best known for training Olympic gold medalist and Hall-of-Famer Andre Ward throughout Ward’s amateur and professional career. Since 2016, Barrios has worked with head coach Virgil Hunter, who has led the 26-year-old to a string of 10 impressive wins-nine by knockout. The PBC event will be broadcast live on SHOWTIME pay-per-view (9 p.m. It's been 4 months and 11 days since this fight.WBA World Super Lightweight Champion Mario “El Azteca” Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs) defends his title against two-division champ Gervonta “Tank” Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) this Saturday, June 26 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. His most recent fight was a non-title bout against Puerto Rican boxer Jovanie Santiago on February 11, 2023. Some of Barrios' best fights and notable victories include wins over Ryan Karl, Batyr Akhmedov, Jose Roman, Jovanie Santiago, Juan Jose Velasco, Richard Zamora, and Eudy Bernardo.īarrios has had a total of two losses in his professional boxing career so far. For all the details about Barrios' world title wins and defenses refer to " Mario Barrios World Titles". He defeated Akhmedov via 12 round unanimous decision to become the super-lightweight champion of the world.īarrios has won one world title at super-lightweight. He went on to win 25 more consecutive fights after the debut, which included 16 wins via stoppage.īarrios had his first world title fight at the age of 24 on Septemafter 24 professional fights, against Batyr Akhmedov for the super-lightweight WBA (Regular) (vacant) title. Mario Barrios made his professional boxing debut against Rigoberto Moreno at the age of 18 on November 11, 2013, defeating Moreno via 1st round TKO.
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