'Your heart starts racing': Mario Barrios, Manny Pacquiao and the art of the ring walk

Yahoo

4 days ago

Bang, bang, bang, bang!
The sound of Mexica (pronounced Meshika) drums starts and gets louder, and faster, until Mario Barrios appears, dressed in Aztec regalia, with his hair slicked back. He walks slowly, surrounded by indigenous people, who blow their horns and dance their dance.
It's June 26, 2021, and Barrios is doing one of the things he does best — make an entrance — ahead of the biggest bout of his life at that point, a super lightweight fight against the sport's most intimidating puncher, Gervonta "Tank" Davis.
The fighter had been reconnected with his indigenous roots in years prior. On his mother's side, he has grandparents from Durango and Mexico City, while his father has relatives from San Luis Potosi. 'I have a lot of Nahuas roots,' Barrios told Uncrowned. He's even related to the Apache tribe from the southwestern U.S. states, and therefore 'has ancestors from both sides of the border.'
Barrios' walks are a tribute to his mother, to his father, and to those who had come before him. Even his nickname is "El Azteca."
Barrios lost to Davis in the 11th round that night, but he continues to pay homage to his Aztec lineage in subsequent fights. He did the same when he made his Netflix debut, boxing Abel Ramos to a brutal draw on the undercard of Jake Paul's polarizing win over Mike Tyson this past November. He'll do the same, too, when he makes his walk this Saturday to meet the Filipino fighting icon Manny Pacquiao in the middle of the ring inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Barrios' ring walks are among the most spectacular of this boxing era — a procession and celebration, but also one that has a deeper meaning beyond the bedazzling colors and the foot-stomping music.
'I got reconnected with the indigenous ceremonies earlier in my 20s and it was just something [that now means a lot],' said Barrios.
'Indigenous people and natives have been at war since colonization and long before, so they've always been very resilient, and very proud warriors … and I'm a warrior inside the ring.'
He displayed that warrior's instinct in high-stakes fights against "Tank," Keith Thurman and Yordenis Ugas. He is determined to display it against Pacquiao, too, telling Uncrowned in June that he's prepared to put a legend down for the count if it's clear Pacquiao can't compete in championship fights in his later years.
Around 2021, Barrios befriended a couple of the Kalipulli, a traditional Mexica-Nahua (Aztec) group dedicated to preserving the culture. They share their traditions through dance, song and Nahua philosophy. If Barrios were to pay homage to his family members, he'd need to recreate those traditions with his ring entrances. And so he met with Kalipulli from the Bay Area, and brought them to the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, for the "Tank" fight.
'It is beautiful,' he said. 'A lot of these dances, these ancestral drums that they're playing and using … they have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, again, way before colonization.'
His outfits, too, are designed by an artist and boxing fan from Los Angeles named Javier Zinzun Jr., who runs the I Got My Own Back brand, specifically catering to custom-made combat sports drip.
'I send them a bunch of ideas of different dances," Barrios said. "Being around the indigenous communities, you see all types of different regalia, outfits, and so I usually send him a couple different examples and I'll tell him what colors I'm thinking.'
I Got My Own Back then puts their artistic spin on it, and sends finished products to Barrios and his team.
It's not even something Barrios restricts to fight night, as his heritage is something that is prevalent throughout his camp, even if it reaches its crescendo minutes before battle.
'I've known Mario for a long time,' Bob Santos, the WBC welterweight champion's longtime coach, told Uncrowned. 'I know him inside and out. Like the good Lord, Jesus Christ, he's been with me from day one and we're still together. Those walkouts, the music, the outfits, that's all a part of his identity. It's who he is, and what he appreciates and what he represents. We see that [through the camp and on fight night].'
Barrios plays ancestral songs in the background of his workouts, and so it's a common thing to hear, and to feel, when he's told he has only a few minutes before he makes his walk, ahead of the biggest fights of his life, under the bright lights, when the pressure, for most athletes, is at its highest.
'As a fighter, it just grounds me,' he said, finding calm before the storm.
For Santos, it's a special moment, too. 'When you hear those drums beating, your heart starts racing,' the former boxing trainer of the year said. 'It gets you jazzed up. But you know this more than anyone, if you lose your head, you lose your ass. You can obviously feel the tension, you can feel the vibe. It's all part of it.'
For Barrios, though it's loud, and looks like a carnival, it actually has a calming effect. He looks around the arenas because he loves 'seeing and hearing people's reactions, and what they think about it all.'
Barrios, though, is not alone when it comes to iconic ring walks.
Pacquiao, too, has his own. He's often walked out to "Eye of the Tiger," the iconic soundtrack to "Rocky III." Barrios had a simple takeaway when it came to his opponent's music, ring walk, and how special of a moment it'll be for Pacquiao fans who have flocked to Vegas to see their fighter return for one more bout, at 46 years old.
'I'm ready,' Barrios said.
Ready, he said, to win the ring-walk game, and the fight itself too.