Ryan Garcia has chosen the path of most resistance by agreeing to face Luke Campbell in a fight for the WBC interim title at 135lbs. Negotiations are now underway between Garcia’s promoters Golden Boy and Matchroom Boxing representing Campbell. They have until the end of July to agree terms.
The unbeaten Californian, who has a reach far beyond boxing with 6.6 million Instagram followers, had also been offered the opportunity to face Emmanuel ‘The Gameboy’ Tagoe (31-1, 15 KOs) in a WBO title eliminator for the crown currently held by Teofimo Lopez, but has instead opted to face Campbell.
“GoldenBoyBoxing has confirmed @KingRyanG participation in the fight vs @Luke11Campbell! Great tournament in the lightweight division,” tweeted WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.
Campbell-Garcia is part of a highly confusing and convoluted lightweight picture created by the WBC to accommodate Franchise Champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, Full Champion Devin Haney and a spurious Diamond title fight between three-weight champion Jorge Linares and Javier Fortuna.
In theory, the winner of Campbell-Garcia earns a clash at the unbeaten Haney as does the winner of Linares-Fortuna. While Garcia and Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) are among US boxing’s brightest hopes for the future, neither has faced a fighter of Campbell’s calibre in their pro careers to date.
Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) was last seen in August 2019, rising from the canvas late to extend the great Lomachenko 12 rounds. Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) impressively blew out former world title challenger Francesco Fonseca in just one round in February.