Barrios vs Karl
After six rounds of scrappy action, Mario “El Azteca” Barrios (26-0, 17 KO’s) claimed a TKO win over Ryan “Cowboy” Karl (18-3, 12 KO’s). Like so many fighters, due to COVID-19, both fighters had been out of the ring for a solid year. However, their high energy performances did not show much evidence of ring rust.
The prizefight stood as the first defense of his ‘regular’ WBC world super lightweight title. This was the first time that Karl had ever challenged for a world title.
BODY BLOW SMORGASBORD
To open the fight, Karl initiated the action by moving in herky-jerky, twitchy fashion. He also established a reliable jab. The Cowboy increased his output and success in the second round. The only downside of Karl’s aggression was the fact that he came in so fast that he often smothered his own ability to work on the inside.
To his credit, Barrios was hammering his opponent’s torso with a number of effective shots. He also seemed to be getting a feel for Karl’s timing and connected with more and more right counters over the top. While the Cowboy did not get wobbled or anything of that nature, during the third he seemed to be showing chinks in his armor.
Then, in the sixth round, Barrios was able to put Karl down on the canvas with an overhand right. Things quickly got worse for him when a clash of heads opened up a nasty gash in between his eyes. Attempting to pay his wound and overall battle damage little mind, the Cowboy bravely fought back. At one point, he even backed El Azteca up with a series of hard rights.
Ultimately, there was no turning the tide of the fight. During a heated exchange of blows, Barrios put Karl down for the second time in the period. Karl was felled with a left uppercut and left hook. This time however, the Cowboy was seriously hurt and unable to pop back to his feet. While standing over the laid-out fighter, referee Luis Pabon did the appropriate thing and stopped the fight.
By: Bakari Simpson
