By Sean Jones: WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman posted on Twitter just moments ago that Golden Boy Promotions has confirmed that Ryan Garcia will participate in the WBC ordered fight against Luke Campbell.
If true, this would be part of the lightweight tournament, which involves Jorge Linares, Javier Fortuna, Devin Haney, Vasily Lomachenko, and Teofimo Lopez. A lot of boxing fans are excited about this news, and rightly so, but they could wind up disappointed.
In what seems very strange is Golden Boy Promotions, and Ryan Garcia hasn’t posted anything on social media to verify what the WBC president Sulaiman is saying. As such, we only have Sulaiman talking and no one else. That’s not a good sign.
One person who is skeptical of the WBC saying that Golden Boy has confirmed Ryan taking the Campbell fight is Mike Coppinger, who sees it as meaningless.
WBO ordered Ryan Garcia vs. Emmanuel Tagoe
Earlier today, the Word Boxing Organization ordered Ryan Garcia to face Emmanuel Tagoe in a WBO 135-pound title eliminator. That move frees King Ryan up to back out of the Campbell fight to go after the softer target against Tagoe (31-1, 15 KOs).
.@GoldenBoyBoxing has confirmed @KingRyanG participation in the fight vs @luke11campbell ! Great tournament in the lightweight division @WBCBoxing pic.twitter.com/IkKAsfybrq
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) July 6, 2020
It would be courageous on Ryan Garcia’s part to take the fight against the former two-time world title challenger Campbell, 32, but he may choose not to. It’s not just Ryan that is making the call in this situation. It’s his promoters at Golden Boy, who are looking out for his future.
They know the risks involved in letting the 21-yar-old untested Ryan face a dangerous puncher like the southpaw Campbell.
Garcia vs. Campbell is a risk that could pay off big time for Ryan if he wins, as he would win many new boxing fans. Additionally, he would be in a position to take on WBC 135-lb champion
“This essentially means nothing in terms of the fight getting made. Far from any deal being done,” said @MikeCoppinger on the Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell fight. Garcia can also decide he’s going WBO route or fight someone else altogether. Typical sanctioning body nonsense.”
Promoter Lou Dibella responded with this Tweet:
“#Truth. A deal isn’t a deal until it’s a deal. #boxing There is significant interest, but that’s not a deal.”
Ryan Garcia will likely want to take the dangerous fight against the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell, but that doesn’t mean the contest will get made.
A lot of obstacles in making Garcia vs. Campbell
There’s Golden Boy that would need to be on board for the Campbell-Garcia fight, and they may have other plans for Ryan. The Tagoe fight is tempting because it’s a guy that is unheralded, and he’s not someone that’s talked about.
Also, Ryan’s father, Henry Garcia, will need to agree to it. He seemed to be less than excited at Ryan taking on Jorge Linares when Golden Boy was recently interested in putting that fight together.
Henry felt that Ryan wouldn’t get credit for beating the 34-year-old Linares due to his age, but a lot of boxing fans saw it differently. They felt that Ryan’s dad was worried that he might get beat by Linares.
Campbell looked good in losing his last fight to Vasily Lomachenko. In looking at the way Campbell fought, it’s challenging to imagine Ryan being able to battle him in the same way.
Campbell gave Lomachenko a lot of problems with his power, size, and boxing skills. If Campbell was able to do that to Lomachenko, what will he do with Ryan Garcia?