![]() ![]() I would tell the other kids I didn’t have a dad. The other kids would ask me where my dad was. I remember in elementary school, early on, on bring-your-dad-to-school day, the other kids would bring their dads. We would fill a change jar that sometimes had $50 in it. We would pick up a couple dimes and a few quarters coming home from school. “When my grandmother’s social security checks would come in, she would spoil us the best she could. I remember going to the store and paying with food stamps. When you’re a kid, there’s a lot of things you don’t understand. I wasn’t an angry kid who would constantly get in fights growing up. “I was definitely angry at what happened. Looking back, I may understand why I fight. She was ferocious every time she stepped into the ring. “Selina was older than me and she understood a lot more. “My father was a different person when he was drunk that’s the version of him that I was angry with,” Mario said. In turn, it explains why Barrios (26-2, 17 KOs) is so difficult to beat. Mario now knows why she fought with such a relentless rage. It was Isabel who introduced Mario and Selina to boxing, when he was seven and Selina was nine. ” Former Super Lightweight World Champion - Mario Barrios He’s never asked me for forgiveness, but I forgive him. They provided the support for her to reorganize her life and create a stable foundation. He would be abusive when he would drink, and my mother still has the scars.”Īfter battling and winning custody of Mario and Selina, Isabel went back to San Antonio, Texas, to join her parents. He grew up in the gang life of Northern Wisconsin, which is no excuse at all, but I would hear the things about him and how he treated my mom. We would see her on weekends, and she was always tired. “My grandmother raised me and Selina because my mom was working on her GED to become a medical assistant. The woman that my mother is made sure we grew up with love, sacrificing everything for us, not growing up with a father figure. My sister would be often brought up, and I would ask my mother and grandmother a bunch of questions. “I was around nine years old when I found out my biological dad was incarcerated for the murder of my older sister. “I would see pictures of my sister Esperanza around everywhere, my mother and grandparents never hid it, I was just too young to understand,” Mario said. Mario Barrios Jr., however, changed the course of “the other” Mario Barrios. There’s a lot of baggage that comes with my name.” I don’t have any children, but I always get asked if I’m going to pass my name down and I always struggle with that. She’s the strongest person I know, and I faced world champions in the ring. I don’t think there is ever enough I can do for my mom. “My mother had her heart ripped out of her chest when my sister died. “But I think it’s good to get it out and talk about it. “It’s a story no one knows about me,” Mario said. When she was exonerated, she fought Wisconsin back for her children. The Wisconsin judicial system attempted to implicate her. Isabel suffered the unbearable-she lost a child. Mario and his older sister, Selina, then two, were placed in protective custody by the Racine County Wisconsin Human Services Department. was described as an abusive drunk, who battered his wife and endangered his three children. Autopsies revealed she died from a lacerated heart caused by an impact blow to the chest.īefore Mario Barrios became a world-famous boxer, his name first appeared in July 1995 in the account of his father’s murder trial. Gradually, the 27-year-old former WBA super lightweight world champion was around nine when he discovered his biological father, Mario Barrios Sr., was incarcerated for the murder of his older sister Esperanza, who was a one-year-old. He was a seven-week-old infant at the time. Mario was always curious, though he did not press about Esperanza. ![]() His mother, Isabel Soto, would put up a strong front, never letting her children see her cry-yet she did. He didn’t understand what the adults were talking about, and why they suddenly stopped speaking when he entered the room. ![]() It’s that insulating snow globe Barrios used to prance through. It shields them from the moving parts swirling around them, the shrill screams, the lasting scars, the drunken, abusive torment-and from unimaginable acts. She was never there.Ī child’s wonderment is a powerful protector. He didn’t understand where she was or what happened to her. There were pictures of the tiny angel Esperanza everywhere, frozen in time with her sparkling wide eyes and curling baby smile. He feels her presence.Īs far back as he could remember, Barrios knew he had an older sister. He’ll look up at the picture on his living room wall at someone he never touched, or hugged, or kissed. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |