After his victory over Kenneth Sims Jr. Arnold Barboza Jr. he made it clear that he was looking for the biggest fights available in the welterweight division. After Saturday night’s victory, Barboza named several massive names as his next opponents, including Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez.

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Last updated: 15/03/2026 at 2:54

Tony Bellew has singled out one undefeated star who has the potential to achieve great things in the sport.

Bellew had a career in his own right, winning the WBC cruiserweight title with a victory over Ilunga Makabu at his beloved Goodison Park in Liverpool in 2016.

More victories over David Haye followed, after which Bellew announced the end of his professional career defeat against Oleksandr Usyk at the Manchester Arena in 2018.

After hanging up his gloves, Bellew became a key pundit in boxing and named a fighter who has impressed him greatly in his compact career so far.

Posting on social mediathe Liverpool fighter praised prospect Pat Brown, who has competed in the cruiserweight division for many years, just like Bellew.

“This adolescent man could be the total package!! He’s going to get a little beat up in Cruiser!”

Brown represented Great Britain at the 2024 Paris Olympics and turned professional a year later. The 26-year-old has won all five of his professional fights to date, most recently stopping Felix Valera within two rounds in November.

He is due to return to action in April, when he will headline the Matchroom Boxing gala in Altrincham, where he will face Vasil Ducar. If Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is to be believed, Brown could be ready to fight for world trophies sooner rather than later.

This could be a challenging task for Brown, however, as Gilberto Ramirez holds the WBO and WBA titles, Noel Mikaelyan is the WBC champion and Jai Opetaia currently holds the IBF belt, although an official decision is expected to be made soon on whether the Recent Zealander will remain champion.

Author: Sean Crose

Arnold Barboza Jr. made his welterweight debut on Saturday night, defeating Kenneth Sims Jr. While Sims certainly didn’t have a bad reputation, it was Barboza that all eyes were on at the Honda Center. Saturday’s fight, which was to take place at 12:00, was Barboza’s first appearance in the ring after losing to Teofimo Lopez. This may have been Barboza’s only loss, but he hasn’t fought since, which meant fans were probably wondering where his mind was, at least at the moment. Indeed, fighting Sims can answer many questions.

The first few rounds were quick and tense. Each fighter tried to take the momentum, but being so early in the fight, it was too close to tell who was more assertive. One thing was certain, Barboza was the faster and stronger puncher of both fighters. This was not good news for Sims, who was supposed to be a more stylistically refined fighter in the ring. With that in mind, it was a very close fight in which either fighter could have easily walked away from the ring with a victory decision.

As the fight came to an end, the fans began to boo. Fights in California tend to be – or at least often – explosive. But it wasn’t that kind of fight. The DAZN broadcast team called it a chess match and they got it right. It just didn’t seem like the fight was going to produce any fireworks. Still, it was a good match in which Barboza seemed to outperform his determined opponent and Sims continued to try to land his fleet more often.

There was a headbutt in the later rounds, of which Barbosa suffered the worst. But that wasn’t enough to stop him. The final rounds were the same as the rest of the entire fight… the ones that were dominated by Barboza. Sims gave it his all, but on Saturday night he simply didn’t have what it took to beat Barboza. Suffice it to say, Barboza left the ring with a unanimous decision victory added to his resume. It was clearly deserved. If anything is certain, it is that Barboza has made a sturdy move into the welterweight division. It will be captivating to see where his career goes.