SAN ANTONIO – Mario Barrios started off slower than he would have liked on Saturday night, but Barrios finally delivered the Ryan Karl knockout he expected
Barrios knocked out Karl in the sixth round of their scheduled 12-round, 140-pound title fight on the undercard Gervonta Davis-Leo Santa Cruz at Alamodome, where fans in his hometown cheered wildly on Referee Luis Pabon ended their fight at 2:23 of the sixth round, once Barrios’ left hand sent a bloodied and beaten Karl to the canvas
Barrios blasted Karl with a short left uppercut before finishing him off with the aforementioned left hand on the side of the head Karl fell to his side and rolled over, flat on his back, before Pabon stopped action
Barrios, 25, became the first San Antonio boxer to successfully defend a world title Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs), who was a 25-1 favorite, retained the WBA super lightweight world championship which he won by defeating Batyr Akhmedov in a controversial fashion in his previous fight, a 12 round 13 months ago at Staples Center in Los Angeles
Karl (18-3, 12 KOs), 28, of Milano, Texas, lost by KO for the third time in his career He had won three consecutive fights before Barrios beat him
Barrios grabbed Karl with his right hand 20 seconds after the sixth round which forced Karl to use his gloves to avoid falling to the canvas It counted as a knockdown, but Karl bravely tried to get out of this problem
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A clash of heads later in the sixth opened a horrific gash above Karl Pabon’s right eye called for a break for a ring doctor to examine Karl’s cut, and Barrios dominated action thereafter
Barrios beat Karl’s body in round five Karl kept advancing, but he couldn’t get the kind of sharp shots on Barrios that he did in rounds two and three
Barrios injured Karl with his right hand at the start of the fourth round which pushed Karl back A right right hand from Barrios also caught Karl clean just before the end of the fourth round
Karl pierced Barrios with a straight at the start of round three A right-left combination from Karl connected around 1:10 a.m. in round three, when he surprisingly continued to make Barrios uncomfortable
Karl appeared to affect Barrios with a right hand in the first minute of round two A short right hand from Karl connected with around 1:15 remaining in round two
Barrios landed two left back to back with just over 20 seconds left in the first round Karl appeared to hit Barrios behind the head several times in the first round, but he was not warned by Pabon
All Texas shots end like I thought Karl went all the way to his career title, it was definitely a good decision to sign with Al Haymon
World Boxing Association
World News – UA – Mario Barrios stops Ryan Karl in sixth fire fight
