Mario Barrios will head into fatherhood armed with a three-fight win streak.

The two-division interim titlist defended his secondary WBC welterweight belt with a twelve-round decision win over Argentina’s Fabian Maidana. Scores were for 116-111 across the board for Barrios in their PBC on Prime/PPV.com Pay-Per-View co-feature Saturday evening at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Action was slow throughout the bout, largely due to Maidana’s refusal to engage. The 31-year-old Argentinean always sought to create a name separate from older brother Marcos, a former welterweight titlist and fan favorite.

His tactics were effective early, as Barrios struggled to find his timing. That changed in round three, when San Antonio’s Barrios connected with a right hand for the bout’s lone knockdown. Maidana beat the count and actually fought well for the balance of the round.

Barrios was forced to fight through a swollen right eye for much of the night. The wound and the defense-first approach by Maidana admittedly affected his overall performance, even in victory.

Maidana was effective on the occasions when he chose to stand his ground. He connected with a left hook that briefly froze Barrios, who responded with two left hooks of his own. One was blocked and the other missed the mark.

Action in the second half was slowed to a crawl. Maidana enjoyed singular success with his right hand. However, he didn’t throw enough of them—or any punches, in general. The first twelve-round fight for Maidana saw him land just 84-of-342 punches as he fell to 22-3 (16 knockouts).

Barrios, The Ring’s No. 7-rated welterweight, advanced to 29-2 (18 KOs) with the win. It was his third in a row since back-to-back defeats to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Keith Thurman. The latter marked the welterweight debut for Barrios, who turned pro at 122 more than ten years ago.  He previously held a secondary WBA 140-pound title, which he lost to Davis via 11^th round knockout in June 2021.

Barrios claimed the interim WBC welterweight title in a twelve-round win over former WBA titlist Yordenis Ugas last September 30.

Saturday’s successful title defense will likely be his last before his partner, Omayra Figueroa, gives birth to their child. Omayra’s brother, Brandon Figueroa knocked out Jessie Magdaleno in the ninth round earlier on the show.

Barrios-Maidan was the co-feature of a four-fight PPV telecast, topped by the Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez-Jaime Munguia Ring/undisputed 168-pound championship.

Jake Donovan a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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