LAS VEGAS — Ryan Garcia has finally secured the one thing that has eluded him in his professional career: a world championship.

Garcia’s first two punches in Saturday’s fight knocked down Mario Barrios and he made a unanimous decision to win the WBC welterweight title. Garcia had perhaps the most complete performance of his career as the judges scored it 119-108, 120-107 and 118-109.

Garcia (25-2, 20 KO) beat Barrios around the ring during the fight, relying heavily on his right hand instead of a left hook. He surprised Barrios from the opening bell, hitting him with a pair of right hands that sent him to the canvas.

From that point on, Barrios couldn’t withstand the constant pressure as Garcia landed various punches to the head and body. When Barrios thought a left hook was coming, Garcia would punch a right hand, fire a jab or drive a left hook to the body. Garcia’s variety and breakneck speed forced Barrios into a shell for much of the fight, and he was unable to muster his usual high volume of punches.

“This was one of the fights where I wanted to show you my entire arsenal,” Garcia said. “I thought it was like a master class, but honestly I should have been knocked out. It wasn’t just a left hook. You all kept saying to watch out for my left hook, but you saw my right hand working tonight.”

During his stellar performance, Garcia suffered an injury to his right hand, which likely saved Barrios from being stopped. Still, it was one of the proudest moments of Garcia’s professional career, and he finally achieved the high expectations placed on him when he turned professional a decade ago.

The 27-year-old Garcia has gone 1-2 without a fight over the past few years. He lost to Gervonta Davis and Rolly Romero and suffered a major blow to his career when his 2024 majority victory over Devin Haney was overturned due to a failed drug test that resulted in a one-year suspension.

While his star power remains intact, Garcia’s tactics in and out of the ring have been controversial. He was arrested in June 2024 for allegedly causing an estimated $15,000 in damage to a Waldorf Astoria hotel room in Beverly Hills. A month later, he was expelled from the WBC after repeatedly using racial slurs and disparaging Muslims in a live broadcast on social media.

Still, Garcia was able to fight for the world title after the WBC reinstated it, so he took advantage of the opportunity, easily out-analyzing Barrios. Although Barrios (29-3-2, 18 KO) entered the fight as a champion, he was 0-0-2 in his previous two fights, drawing with Manny Pacquiao and Abel Ramos.

While these fights were competitive, the Garcia fight was not. Barrios couldn’t match Garcia’s speed and failed to create anything that would make Garcia reconsider his approach.

For Saturday’s fight, Barrios hired trainer Joe Goossen, who previously worked with Garcia. The hire lit a fire under Garcia, who returned under his father’s tutelage after working with several coaches for several years. Garcia’s return to his father resulted in one of his most accomplished performances and proved that even though Barrios had an instructor who knew Garcia, it wouldn’t be enough to turn around the extremely talented fighter from Victorville, California.

“This is the performance I expected from him,” Goosen said of Garcia. “What we needed to do more was push a little harder. But Mario gave it his all, he hit his gigantic shots early on and a few in the middle rounds, but for the most part he took everything Ryan gave him and kept coming.”

Although Garcia conceded in the final rounds, the outcome was never in doubt. He then said he wanted to face WBO 140-pound champion Shakur Stevenson, and that fight would be one of the biggest fights of the year.

“You know who I want? He’s in there. So, Shakur Stevenson, let’s go,” Garcia said. “Hey, I want to be a great champion and I’m not afraid…. I fought Devin Haney. I’ll fight Shakur Stevenson. I’ll fight anyone.”

The future looks brilliant for Garcia, who will have plenty of options for his first title defense.