SAN ANTONIO – The biggest fight of Mario Barrios’ career finally has a home.
On Thursday afternoon, Barrios met face-to-face with Gervonta Davis at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia for the official press conference announcing their fight. Barrios (26-0), 17 KOs) will face Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) on June 26 for Mario’s WBA World Super Lightweight championship belt. This will be the second straight title defense for “El Azteca”.
Recommended Videos
“This is a big fight, it’s exciting,” Barrios told reporters Thursday. “Me and ‘Tank’ are both undefeated fighters, neither one of us want to lose our ‘0′ but someone has to, I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that’s not me.”
INSIDE THE RING: @Boxer_Barrios & @Gervontaa met the media Thursday at the site of their @ShowtimeBoxing PPV fight! #KSATsports #boxing #boxeo @FightAction #TeamBarrios #ElAzteca #PuroSanAntonio
— KSAT 12 Sports (@InstantReplaySA) May 21, 2021
READ MORE: https://t.co/L7ZcRO8BlM pic.twitter.com/yHjTLinUrO
The press conference was delayed by Davis for over an hour due to unknown reasons. Davis will be moving up two weight classes to face Barrios in the scheduled 12-round super lightweight bout which is airing as the main event on Showtime PPV.
“I’m ready and he’s coming with power and we know for sure I’m coming with power, so may the best man win,” said Davis. “To be the best, you have to beat the best, it’s going to be exciting, I bring what boxing needs and that’s excitement.”
Many boxing press conferences tend to have a lot of trash talking either between fighters or the boxer’s teams. That wasn’t the case today and would’ve been out of the ordinary for Barrios since he tends to focus on what he has to do to win.
“I’m excited, I do all my talking in the ring,” explained Barrios. “Come June 26, I’m going to continue to show everybody how great I am. We’re going to make sure I’m more than ready come fight night, we’re expecting to fight the best version of ‘Tank’ that anyone has seen, it’s going to be a war.”
INSIDE THE RING: @Boxer_Barrios & @Gervontaa are ready for an exciting fight coming up in late June!#KSATsports #boxing #boxeo #TeamBarrios #DavisBarrios @FightAction @ShowtimeBoxing
— KSAT 12 Sports (@InstantReplaySA) May 24, 2021
READ MORE: https://t.co/L7ZcRO8BlM pic.twitter.com/cDgPCuqJJR
One of the bouts on the undercard leading up to Barrios vs. Davis features Batyr Akhmedov, who lost to Barrios in 2019 for the WBA World Super Lightweight belt.
You can catch more updates on Barrios vs. Davis starting this Sunday on Instant Replay leading into fight week, including a one-on-one interview between Larry Ramirez and Mario Barrios.
Daniel P. Villanueva has worked with KSAT 12 for over 18 years and is an award-winning producer. To submit story ideas, email dvillanueva@ksat.com
