Arnold Barboza Jr. (born December 9, 1991) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. He is the current WBO interim

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

world champion. As of April 2025, he is ranked as the world's fourth-best active light welterweight by ''The Ring''.

Professional career

Barboza made his professional debut as a

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

on June 14, 2013, scoring a six-round

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

(UD) victory against Gustavo Lopez at the

Chumash Casino Resort The Chumash Casino Resort is owned and operated by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians. Chumash is located near Santa Ynez Airport, in the Santa Ynez Indian Reservation, about east of Solvang, California. History Opened in its pres ...

Santa Ynez, California Santa Ynez ( ; Spanish for "St. Agnes", originally spelled ''Santa Inés'') is an unincorporated community in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. The population was 4,505 at the 2020 census, up from 4,418 ...

. After compiling a record of 19–0 (7 KOs) he defeated Manuel Lopez via ten-round UD on December 14, 2018, capturing the vacant WBC- NABF Junior

title at the

American Bank Center The American Bank Center is an entertainment complex located in Corpus Christi, Texas. The complex consists of an auditorium, convention center and arena. The facility hosts numerous conventions, trade shows, exhibitions, live performances and sp ...

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

. All three judges scored the bout 100–90. Barboza scored another three victories in 2019; a third-round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

(KO) to retain his title against former world title challenger

Mike Alvarado Mike Alvarado (born July 28, 1980) is an American professional boxer who held the WBO light welterweight title in 2013. Early life Alvarado was born in Denver, Colorado. He is the cousin of featherweight prospect Ricky López and his biological ...

in April; a fourth-round stoppage via

corner retirement A corner retirement (also known as a corner stoppage) is a term in boxing used to describe a fight ending when a boxer refuses to continue or their corner team pulls them out during the rest period between rounds. This results in the referee sto ...

(RTD) against Ricky Sismundo in a non-title bout in August; and a second successful defence of his title against William Silva via fifth-round KO in November. Barboza Jr. faced Tony Luis on August 29, 2020, in his first fight of the year. He won the bout by unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 99–90 in his favor. Barboza Jr. was booked to face the one-time

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

light welterweight title challenger Alex Saucedo for the vacant WBO International light welterweight title on October 17, 2020. He won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 96–93, 97–92 and 97–92. Barboza made his first WBO International title defense against Antonio Moran on August 14, 2021, on the undercard of the

Joshua Franco Joshua Franco (born October 27, 1995) is an American former professional boxer who held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight title between 2020 and 2023. Professional career Early career Franco made his professional debut on Augus ...

and

Andrew Moloney Andrew Moloney (born 10 January 1991) is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) super-flyweight title in 2020, having previously held the interim title since 2019. At regional level he held the WBA Oceania bantamweight ...

trilogy bout. He won the fight by a dominant unanimous decision, with scores of 99–91, 100–90 and 99–91. Barboza was scheduled to face Sean McComb on April 20, 2024 in Brooklyn, New York billing as the co-main event of the

Ryan Garcia Ryan Garcia (born August 8, 1998) is an American professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim lightweight title in 2021. Amateur career Garcia started boxing at the age of seven and dreamed of one day representing the ...

vs.

Devin Haney Devin Miles Haney ( ; born November 17, 1998) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed championship at lightweight from 2022 to 2023, and the World Boxing Counci ...

bout. Barboza won the fight via controversial split decision to retain his WBO Intercontinental junior welterweight title. On 16 November 2024, he beat José Ramírez by unanimous decision in a 10-round bout at The Venue Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Barboza faced

Jack Catterall Jack Catterall (born 1 July 1993) is an English professional boxer. He challenged for the undisputed light-welterweight title in 2022. At regional level, he has held multiple light-welterweight championships, including the British title from 2 ...

in a WBO super lightweight title eliminator on 15 February 2025 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England. He won by split decision.

Professional boxing record

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Barboza, Arnold Jr 1991 births Living people American male boxers Boxers from California Sportspeople from Long Beach, California Light-welterweight boxers Welterweight boxers 21st-century American sportsmen