OLYMPIAN Mark Anthony Barriga quietly vies for another crack at a world title when he challenges Jonathan Gonzalez for the WBO junior flyweight crown on Friday in Florida (Saturday, Manila time).
The 12-round bout will be held at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee.
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This is Barriga’s second shot at winning a world crown following his unsuccessful bid in 2018 against IBF minimumweight champion Carlos Licona, losing by split decision in the undercard of the first Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder heavyweight title showdown.
The 29-year-old Barriga retired from boxing shortly after, but launched a comeback in 2021 and has won his last two matches.
The Filipino, who represented the country in the 2012 London Olympics, carries an 11-1 record with 2 KOs.
Mark Barriga gets another title shot.
Gonzalez, from Caguas, Puerto Rico, is the more seasoned fighter behind a 25-3 record with 14 KOs.
The 31-year-old champion is making the first defense of the crown he won via split decision against Mexican Elwin Sotto in California last October.
One of his losses came against former world champion Kosei Tanaka of Japan.
Both Barriga and Gonzalez made weight during the official weigh-in, with the Filipino coming in at 106.4 and the Puerto Rican at 107.6
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