Mark Anthony Barriga
Many of the most notable Filipino fighters, like Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire and Donnie Nietes are getting to the end of their legendary professional careers. The trio of multi-weight world champions have spear headed professional boxing in the Philippines for years and have really helped to inspire the next generation of Filipino fighters. Part of that new wave is former amateur stand out Mark Anthony Barriga (8-0, 1), who is looking to announce himself as a very special fighter this year, and build on his strong amateur credentials.
The diminutive fighter, dubbed “The little Boy”, is one of the rising forces at Minimumweight and despite being a professional for less than 2 years is already closing in on a world title fight.
As a youngster Barriga was bullied for his size but that acted as inspiration for his boxing, which began when he was just 5 years old. As a young fighter Barriga impressed on the national scene, picking gold medals in 2008 and 2009 before moving on to international competition. That international success saw Barriga going to the 2010 Youth World Championships in Baku as a 16 year old. In that competition Barriga fought his way to the quarter-final of the 48KG division before losing a close bout with Ryan Burnett, who has shone as a professional unifying the WBA and IBF Bantamweight titles.
Barriga's performance in Baku was impressive and in 2011 he was again competing in central Asia, winning the Sidney Jackson Memorial in Tashkent in May and reach the last 16 at the World Amateur Championship as he returned to Baku. At the World Championships Barriga defeated Irishman Paddy Barnes before losing to Zou Shiming.
Success breeds success and in 2012 Barriga won a second Sidney Jackson Memorial in Tashkent before competing at the 2012 Olympics in London. Sadly at the Olympics failed to reach the medal stages, running into experienced Kazakh Birzhan Zhakypov in his second bout and losing a razor thin decision.
Although turning professional at that point would have made some sense Barriga continued to fight in the amateurs, going to the World Amateur Championships in Almaty in 2013, where he incredibly unlucky to face Cuban Yosvany Veitia in his second bout. The set back in Almaty was a set back, but Barriga would go on to claim gold at the South East Asian games that year. He would also begin to compete in the WSB, for the Italia Thunder team, and impressed beating the likes of Lu Bin in the competition.
Amateur success bred more success for Barriga with a Bronze at the Asian games in 2014 and a solid showing at the APB, taking eventual APB champion Lu Bin to a split decision.
Barriga was expected to go to the 2016 Olympics in Rio but missed out to countryman Rogen Ladon, who qualified through the Asia and Oceania qualifiers. With Barriga missing out on a second Olympics he decided to turn professional and begin his pursuit of professional glory, having had over 100 amateur bouts. With his amateur pedigree the plan was to fast track Barriga and look to claim a world title after 5 fights.
Originally Barriga was pencilled in to debut on June 24th 2016 but his opponent for that bout was deemed unfit to fight. As a result the young Filipino had to wait until July 30th, when he would debut against Melvin Manangquil and take a 6 round decision win. Just 2 months later Barriga would step up and defeat Powell Balaba with an 8 round decision. He would make up for lost time with a a third victory during the year, taking a technical decision over Rodel Kirk Pelenio in December.
It seemed like Barriga's aim of winning a world title in double quick time had changed after those few fights and his fourth professional bout saw him take an 8 round decision over Geboi Mansalayao in February 2017. Sadly for Barriga whilst his talent was impressing he was looking pretty feather fisted, taking decision in his first 4 bouts. He would secure his first stoppage a bout later, taking out the weak chinned Marlou Sandoval in 2 rounds before adding a 10 round decision win over Joel Taduran, proving he could fight 10 rounds with no real issue.
In September 2017 Barriga would face his first major step up in class, battling against former 2-time world title challenger Samartlek Kokietgym of Thailand. Samartlek had come up short against the Japanese pairing of Naoya Inoue and Akira Yaegashi in bouts for Light Flyweight titles and looked equally as outclassed here with Barriga taking a 10 round shut out to claim the WBO International Minimumweight title. That win boosted Barriga's chances of getting a world title fight but didn't assure him of one, and rather than wait he stayed busy with a December win over the tough Glenne Calacar.
With a high world ranking coming into 2018 Barriga was set for a world title eliminator but had difficulties in securing an opponent, with a number of fighters dropping out. Now however that eliminator is set and the talented Filipino will face Colombian puncher Gabriel Mendoza on May 13th with the winner securing an IBF title fight, potentially against the hard hitting champion Hiroto Kyoguchi.
In the ring Barriga is a pure boxer. His fights won't ever go down as being the most exciting but he is incredibly well schooled with good defense, and amazing judgement of distance and a real natural calmness in the ring. He makes opponents commit errors and pounces on them, finding gaps in the defenses of opponents and and punishing them. Although not one of the divisions exciting fighters he's a master of his craft, and when he feels in control he can do some very special things, as he showed against Samartlek.
The only real flaw in Barriga, so far, is his lack of power. For a smart fighter he's busy and active, and will keep fighters on the back foot with his activity, but many fighters at the world level will walk through his shots at the moment to try and get their own off. He has got great defense, but could struggle against an offensive monster like Kyoguchi. Saying that however he would be expected to give fits to any current world champion.
The diminutive fighter, dubbed “The little Boy”, is one of the rising forces at Minimumweight and despite being a professional for less than 2 years is already closing in on a world title fight.
As a youngster Barriga was bullied for his size but that acted as inspiration for his boxing, which began when he was just 5 years old. As a young fighter Barriga impressed on the national scene, picking gold medals in 2008 and 2009 before moving on to international competition. That international success saw Barriga going to the 2010 Youth World Championships in Baku as a 16 year old. In that competition Barriga fought his way to the quarter-final of the 48KG division before losing a close bout with Ryan Burnett, who has shone as a professional unifying the WBA and IBF Bantamweight titles.
Barriga's performance in Baku was impressive and in 2011 he was again competing in central Asia, winning the Sidney Jackson Memorial in Tashkent in May and reach the last 16 at the World Amateur Championship as he returned to Baku. At the World Championships Barriga defeated Irishman Paddy Barnes before losing to Zou Shiming.
Success breeds success and in 2012 Barriga won a second Sidney Jackson Memorial in Tashkent before competing at the 2012 Olympics in London. Sadly at the Olympics failed to reach the medal stages, running into experienced Kazakh Birzhan Zhakypov in his second bout and losing a razor thin decision.
Although turning professional at that point would have made some sense Barriga continued to fight in the amateurs, going to the World Amateur Championships in Almaty in 2013, where he incredibly unlucky to face Cuban Yosvany Veitia in his second bout. The set back in Almaty was a set back, but Barriga would go on to claim gold at the South East Asian games that year. He would also begin to compete in the WSB, for the Italia Thunder team, and impressed beating the likes of Lu Bin in the competition.
Amateur success bred more success for Barriga with a Bronze at the Asian games in 2014 and a solid showing at the APB, taking eventual APB champion Lu Bin to a split decision.
Barriga was expected to go to the 2016 Olympics in Rio but missed out to countryman Rogen Ladon, who qualified through the Asia and Oceania qualifiers. With Barriga missing out on a second Olympics he decided to turn professional and begin his pursuit of professional glory, having had over 100 amateur bouts. With his amateur pedigree the plan was to fast track Barriga and look to claim a world title after 5 fights.
Originally Barriga was pencilled in to debut on June 24th 2016 but his opponent for that bout was deemed unfit to fight. As a result the young Filipino had to wait until July 30th, when he would debut against Melvin Manangquil and take a 6 round decision win. Just 2 months later Barriga would step up and defeat Powell Balaba with an 8 round decision. He would make up for lost time with a a third victory during the year, taking a technical decision over Rodel Kirk Pelenio in December.
It seemed like Barriga's aim of winning a world title in double quick time had changed after those few fights and his fourth professional bout saw him take an 8 round decision over Geboi Mansalayao in February 2017. Sadly for Barriga whilst his talent was impressing he was looking pretty feather fisted, taking decision in his first 4 bouts. He would secure his first stoppage a bout later, taking out the weak chinned Marlou Sandoval in 2 rounds before adding a 10 round decision win over Joel Taduran, proving he could fight 10 rounds with no real issue.
In September 2017 Barriga would face his first major step up in class, battling against former 2-time world title challenger Samartlek Kokietgym of Thailand. Samartlek had come up short against the Japanese pairing of Naoya Inoue and Akira Yaegashi in bouts for Light Flyweight titles and looked equally as outclassed here with Barriga taking a 10 round shut out to claim the WBO International Minimumweight title. That win boosted Barriga's chances of getting a world title fight but didn't assure him of one, and rather than wait he stayed busy with a December win over the tough Glenne Calacar.
With a high world ranking coming into 2018 Barriga was set for a world title eliminator but had difficulties in securing an opponent, with a number of fighters dropping out. Now however that eliminator is set and the talented Filipino will face Colombian puncher Gabriel Mendoza on May 13th with the winner securing an IBF title fight, potentially against the hard hitting champion Hiroto Kyoguchi.
In the ring Barriga is a pure boxer. His fights won't ever go down as being the most exciting but he is incredibly well schooled with good defense, and amazing judgement of distance and a real natural calmness in the ring. He makes opponents commit errors and pounces on them, finding gaps in the defenses of opponents and and punishing them. Although not one of the divisions exciting fighters he's a master of his craft, and when he feels in control he can do some very special things, as he showed against Samartlek.
The only real flaw in Barriga, so far, is his lack of power. For a smart fighter he's busy and active, and will keep fighters on the back foot with his activity, but many fighters at the world level will walk through his shots at the moment to try and get their own off. He has got great defense, but could struggle against an offensive monster like Kyoguchi. Saying that however he would be expected to give fits to any current world champion.