When Saturday's fight between Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios was formally announced, the former unified welterweight champion made it clear to anyone who would listen that he wants to face either current WBC and IBF titlist Errol Spence Jr. or WBO titleholder Terence Crawford.
Before those fights can even be thought about, standing across from Thurman will be former WBA (regular) 140-pound champion, Mario Barrios. At Wednesday's press conference, Thurman continued to express his intentions towards the other champions in the weight class and looking right through Barrios and at things ahead, and Saturday's fight hadn't even happened yet. However, it's something Barrios has noticed and issued a warning.
"I feel the same," Barrios told DAZN News. "Every time I hear him talking about himself, what he’s going to do, I always get a good little laugh. But if he's looking at me as a stepping stone or just a tuneup fight, then he's in for a big mistake."
In his last time out, Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs) suffered the first loss of his career in June, an 11th-round TKO loss to Gervonta Davis. Barrios was very competitive for the majority of the contest. But he felt like the weight cut to 140 pounds affected his performance in the second half of the fight, which led to the stoppage. Because of that, Barrios felt the best thing for his career was to move to 147 and not continue to put the strain on his body.
When he decided to make the jaunt up a weight class, Thurman was offered. To Barrios, Thurman made plenty of sense because for him, it's about taking on the best, and anything less would be unfulfilling.
"I think it was the biggest fight that was proposed to me," Barrios exclaimed. "It was the most dangerous fight. And those were the fights that I want to continue on having. I like it when I take a fight, and I get questions like, ‘Why do you take such hard fights?’ I'm always like, ‘Why not? I'm a fighter.’
"There would have been no sense of me moving up and then just fighting somebody with no name. That doesn't excite me. That doesn't motivate me when I'm in the boxing gym."
The goal for every fighter is securing a world title, with the end game being a victory. A win over Thurman would vault Barrios to the upper echelon in one of boxing's glamour divisions. Barrios doesn't want to look too far ahead of himself like his counterpart, but it is a topic that will be broached if he takes care of business over "One Time."
"That's the goal ultimately is to do whatever I can to get back at another title shot," Barrios admits. "But first things first, we're just worried about Keith Thurman. Given we go out there and handle business then my team and I will sit down, and then we'll decide what's next.