The first defense of his WBC welterweight world title looked pretty straightforward.

In November of 2024, Mario Barrios sauntered to the ring against Abel Ramos as a sizable favorite, and for good reason. By and large, the 33-year-old appeared shopworn. Prior to stepping into the ring against Barrios, Ramos came up short in three of his last five fights. He also wasn’t highly ranked in any of the four sanctioning bodies.

More than anything, it felt as though Barrios was throwing the aging veteran a bone. But while it seemed as though the 29-year-old would put him down like a dying dog on its last breath, Ramos proved that he had plenty of fight left in him.

After getting dropped in the second and outworked early on, Ramos dropped Barrios in the sixth and practically dominated the second half of their showdown. Although it wasn’t quite enough to secure the victory, Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) isn’t happy that his record has been sullied even further with a split-decision draw.

Looking back at that exhausting night, Barrios sighs. During the lead-up to their showdown, he knew he was expected to dominate. To be fair, he was expecting the same. However, since he didn’t, he doesn’t have a problem with the vulnerabilities he showed. Although some have pointed to a few weak points in his armor that might have been exposed, Barrios revealed that Ramos is simply as tough as it gets.

“I knew it was going to be a hard ass fight,” Barrios told FightHype.com. “I felt in control in the beginning but I got caught with a good shot. I feel like I finished the fight strong.”

Draws are common in a sport where two men are judged by how much damage they inflict on one another. Ramos knows it since he now has three of them on his record. Going back just last weekend, we witnessed another stalemate as Gervonta Davis and Lamont Roach fought on the same playing field for 36 minutes.

In the case of Davis and Roach, the two are likely to do it again. Barrios though, didn't sound like a man who was interested in running things back.

It isn’t because he’s scared of what could possibly happen in a rematch. Instead, he seems more interested in taking his career to the next level. In order to do that, he’ll have to take down some of the division’s biggest names.

“There’s big things are on the horizon.”