With talk of mega-fights against Manny Pacquiao and Gervonta Davis stealing the headlines in the aftermath of his epic win over Luke Campbell in January, Ryan Garcia has been ordered to defend his WBC ‘Interim’ lightweight crown against Dominican Javier Fortuna by the Mexican sanctioning body.
The WBC said in a statement: “After careful consideration and countless communications with all parties involved the WBC has confirmed the course of action for the lightweight division. Ryan Garcia won the WBC interim title and mandatory position. Javier Fortuna had a signed contract to face Jorge Linares which Covid prevented from happening and earned a mandatory position.
“The WBC is hereby ordering Ryan Garcia vs Javier Fortuna for the WBC interim lightweight championship and mandatory position in the division. The free negotiation period has begun and if no agreement is reached a purse bid will take place on Friday, April 16.”
With WBC ‘Full’ title holder Devin Haney set to defend against three-weight champion Jorge Linares, the Garcia-Fortuna winner would, in theory, be next in line to meet the victor of that bout. Confusingly, the WBC also lists Teofimo Lopez as its ‘Franchise’ champion at 135lbs in a convoluted title picture.
The Eddy Reynoso trained Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) rose from the canvas to halt Campbell in seven rounds in a breakout performance in January. Former WBA Regular 130lbs champion Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) became WBC mandatory back in November 2019, but now faces another fight to become mandatory, par for the course in the WBC’s bewildering ratings at lightweight.