Barrios Scores One-Punch, 2nd-Round KO on Lipinets-Garcia

By Keith Idec

Mario Barrios made his hometown fans plenty proud Saturday night.

The unbeaten super lightweight prospect continued his journey toward becoming a contender by making quick work of Eudy Bernardo on the Sergey Lipinets-Mikey Garcia undercard at Freeman Coliseum in Barrios’ native San Antonio. The 22-year-old Barrios scored a one-punch, second-round knockout of the Dominican Republic’s Bernardo to send his hometown fans into a frenzy.

Barrios improved to 21-0 and produced his 13th knockout. The 31-year-old Bernardo (23-3, 17 KOs) lost by knockout for just the second time in his career.

The fight ended soon after Barrios blasted Bernardo with a picture-perfect right hand that landed flush on Bernardo’s jaw. That shot sent Bernardo flat on his back with 2:28 to go in the second round.

A disoriented Bernardo made it to his feet, but once he stumbled backward, into the ropes, referee Jon Schorle grabbed him and stopped the fight.

Following Barrios’ big win, lightweight prospect Brandon Figueroa stopped Giovanni Delgado in the seventh round of a scheduled eight-rounder.

The 21-year-old Figueroa (15-0, 10 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, beat up the game Delgado throughout the completely one-sided bout, but it wasn’t stopped until the 1:55 mark of the seventh round. Mexico’s Delgado (16-7, 9 KOs) remained on his feet, but Figueroa was hammering him with power shots, much like he had done during previous rounds.

Figueroa, the younger brother of unbeaten welterweight/junior welterweight contender Omar Figueroa Jr., out-landed Delgado by more than 200 punches (267-64).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.