The World Boxing Council has ordered the 22-year-old rising lightweight boxing star to face contender Javier Fortuna for the interim lightweight title and right to be mandatory challenger to champion Devin Haney.
The negotiation period has begun for a Garcia-Fortuna bout with a purse bid scheduled for April 16 if no deal is in place by then.
Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) is a former champion coming off a sixth-round knockout victory over Antonio Lozada Jr. in November. He was the secondary WBC mandatory challenger.
Garcia is one of boxing’s biggest young stars with a significant following, particularly from Gen Z and social media communities. But his mission has been to gain respect for his boxing ability. He made his first big step in that by overcoming a first-round knockdown to beat Campbell earlier this year.
If a bout with Fortuna is finalized, Garcia would have his second consecutive contender to add to his résumé and continue to raise his profile.
Jose Ramirez could possibly be fighting the biggest battle of his career in May…
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum has reserved the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 8 for a long-awaited 140-pound unification fight between the 28-year-old Mexican American boxer, the WBC and WBO champion, and IBF and WBA champion Josh Taylor (17-0).
Canelo Alvarez will fight WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders — also in Las Vegas — on either May 1 or May 8, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday, but the Taylor-Ramirez date will not change, according to Top Rank.
Arum said he’s “looking forward” to having fans in attendance “in accordance with strict standards imposed by the state of Nevada.”
Arum said Taylor is already working on a obtaining a visa and that the purses between the two ex-Olympians will be equal.
“From our side of the table, we are happy moving forward with Taylor-Ramirez,” said Jamie Conlan, vice president of MTK Global, which advises Taylor and also has a relationship with Ramirez’s manager, Rick Mirigian.
Mirigian, however, said deal isn’t yet locked up with his client.
“I’m optimistic, but negotiations continue,” Mirigian said. Another interested party is undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez, who has said he wants to fight the winner to become the only undisputed four-belt champion at both 135 and 140 pounds.
On Thursday, Arum hosted a lunch at his Beverly Hills home with Golden Boy‘s Oscar De La Hoya and Eric Gomez. Among the subjects discussed was a possible mega fight between Lopez and Garcia.
Garcia’s team was not at the lunch
The idea, according to Arum, was for Lopez to defend against his IBF mandatory challenger, and Garcia to fight Javier Fortuna, then meet in a mega fight.
“It would have to be this year,” Arum said. “Because after that, Teofimo is going up to fight the winner of Taylor-Ramirez.”
Jorge Linaresis heading back to the ring this summer…
The 34-year-old Venezuelan professional boxer and three-time world champion will fight Javier Fortuna (35-2-1, 24 KOs) on August 28 at the Fantasy Springs Resort and Casinoin Indio, California.
After Linares (47-5, 29 KOs) dispatched Carlos Morales in four rounds on February 14, a showdown with the undefeated Ryan Garcia was heavily rumored for the summer. That fight never materialized, and Linares and his representatives shifted their focus to another fight.
“We wanted that fight [with Garcia], Jorge wanted that fight more than anybody,” said Jose de la Cruz, who manages Linares. “I guess their camp is not being reasonable with Golden Boy.”
In regard to the potential July 4 fight, Garcia representative Lupe Valencia said, “What they offered Ryan was not acceptable. We can’t just accept it if we know it’s not reasonable.”
Eric Gomez, the president of Golden Boy Promotions, told ESPN, “Fortuna was willing to fight pretty much anybody, he was available. So we made the offer to Linares, and he took it right away.”
Gomez said there is a chance that this bout could be contested for the WBC interim lightweight title.
“It was a no-brainer,” said de la Cruz. “I think it’s the right time for Jorge to fight for a world title, and to stay active, number one. He’ll be 35 by the time he fights. How many fights does he have left? We all want to know.”
Linares, who is ESPN’s No. 6 lightweight, has had a memorable career, filled with substantial victories and mind-boggling defeats.
He’s captured world titles at 126, 130 and 135, but never had a long title run with any of those belts. Linares has victories over the likes of Oscar Larios, Kevin Mitchell, Anthony Crolla and Luke Campbell, and gave Vasiliy Lomachenko his toughest test to date as a professional.
But Linares has also been knocked out in all five of his losses, the latest of which was when he was stopped in the first round by Pablo Cesar Cano in an ill-fated experiment at 140 at the beginning of 2019.
The 31-year-old Fortuna, who is ESPN’s No. 8 lightweight, once held the WBA 130-pound title and had a strong showing as he knocked out a faded Jesus Cuellar in two rounds last November.
Fortuna, a southpaw from the Dominican Republic presents a formidable challenge for Linares with his above-average power. Should Linares overcome the challenge of Fortuna, he’ll be in line for even bigger fights.
“There’s [Devin] Haney,” said De La Cruz, mentioning the current WBC lightweight titleholder as one option. ”If Golden Boy can make the Ryan Garcia fight, if the virus doesn’t affect us late in the year, everything goes well, we want a championship fight or a big fight at the Staples Center. That’s what Golden Boy wants.”
Javier Fortuna is now theWBA Featherweight Champion…
The 22-year-old Dominican (21-0, 15 KOs) handily outpointed Ireland’s Patrick Hyland (27-1, 12 KOs) in a scrappy fight to win a vacant interim title.
The fight drew rants from the crowd due to its uneven action, but Fortuna managed to keep up a steady pace of punches while Ireland’s Hyland — who is promoted by “Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi — wasn’t able to really do much with his much faster opponent.
Fortuna won 118-110, 116-112 and a surprisingly close 115-113. ESPN.com scored it for Fortuna, 119-109.
“I thought I would get a pretty easy knockout, but I underestimated Hyland and it turned out to be a more difficult fight than I thought it would be,” Fortuna said through a translator.
Fortuna is a southpaw whose style resembles that of middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, his stablemate. Fortuna likes to mimic Martinez by carrying his hands low and also leans in with his head, using his quickness to avoid punches.
Unable to deal with Fortuna’s quick hands, Hyland tried to make it a street fight. He was warned for low blows in the third round. In the ninth round, he threw Fortuna to the canvas and easily could have been docked a point by referee Russell Mora. Fortuna tweaked his right shoulder when he was thrown down. Later in the round, Hyland doubled over Fortuna with a low blow that earned him warning.
“It was a good scrap,” Hyland said. “He didn’t hit as hard as everyone said he would hit me and he kept running the last few rounds. People were making him out to be the next best thing, but he is still a kid and he needs to mature a little bit.”
Fortuna, one of boxing’s top prospects, had been very impressive in his other two 2012 fights, a first-round destruction of previously undefeated Yuandale Evans in April and a second-round stoppage of former featherweight titlist Cristobal Cruz.
