The toughest fight Daniel “Chucky” Barrera will deal with this week might not be his Friday clash with Cristopher Rios at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, but his Wednesday morning drive back home to California from his training camp in Arizona.

“We have a long drive, about seven, eight hours,” said the flyweight prospect, who was remarkably pleasant on Tuesday afternoon, despite a weight cut and a horrific drive ahead of him

That’s life for a fighter at this point in his career. The Eastvale flyweight has nine fights under his belt and he’s moving steadily through the ranks, which means the positive notices and bigger fights are coming, but there no private jets – or any planes at all – yet. And he understands that.

“Of course, there's times that I'm like, I feel like I should be up there and displaying my skills and fighting for that title,” said Barrera. “But, as of now, I really put it into my head to just enjoy the process, let it take its course and our time will come. And when it comes, everybody will recognize me and know who I am as a fighter.”

Not a bad attitude for someone who packs the house whenever he fights, with chants of “Chucky, Chucky” ringing through casino ballrooms. In fact, you won’t find a more grounded 23-year-old, so while he’s got a growing fan following, he’s not letting it get to his head.

“It makes me really happy to know that I have fans that are willing to drive three hours just to go to a casino and watch me fight for 30 minutes,” said Barrera. “It's exciting. I'm super blessed to have the fans that I have, and the family and friends that are willing to go, as well. And it's fun. Every fight I gain new fans, I start recognizing people's faces and it's fun to interact with them.”

Those fans should get a scrap when Barrera puts his unbeaten 8-0-1 record on the line against the 22-year-old Rios, whose only setbacks on a 10-2 pro slate have been by split and majority decision. And if we’re judging by the staredown at a recent media workout, Rios is bringing a little extra to the ring on Friday.

“It's actually funny that you asked about that because that's one of the first times that I ever wanted to laugh in one of the stareoffs,” said Barrera. “I don't know why this time wanted to laugh, but it was just really funny to me.”

So no drama from the Barrera camp, now or ever.

“I haven't really run into anybody that's been a talker yet,” he said. “For the most part, I take it as they're in my way. I want to win a world title in my career, but they're in the way of it. So it's nothing personal; we're going to fight eventually. There's a lot of guys that I spar with that we're going to fight eventually. And that's just how it is. It's the sport of boxing and I understand that no one has ever bad blood with me, but if they feel some type of way, that's on them. Let them fight with anger. It never works.”

And though Rios isn’t someone Barrera has shared the ring in the gym with, he has sparred with his opponent’s younger brother.

“Actually, I ran into his brother sparring, probably the camp when I was getting ready for (Christian) Robles,” said Barrera. “And it's his younger brother, who's technically bigger in size. So I sparred with him. But even throughout the amateurs, as I was ending my amateur career, he was coming up, so I kind of knew of him since the amateurs.”

Now they will meet, and Barrera isn’t thinking about staredowns, but of getting his 2025 campaign off to a winning start. And by the end of the year, he hopes to add Prospect of the Year honors to his name.

“I felt like I had more than enough time in the pros already to prove to everybody I deserve that spot of Prospect of the Year,” he said. “Hopefully, this is the year everybody gets to recognize me more and that'll be great to accomplish. And then the contenders will come next.”