By Sean Jones: In what could be a complete waste of time, the WBC has ordered Ryan ‘Kingry’ Garcia to defend his interim WBC 135-lb title along with his mandatory status against Javier Fortuna.
In theory, the winner of the WBC-ordered King Ryan vs. Fortuna fight would then battle whoever emerges as the victor in the yet-to-be-scheduled Devin Haney vs. Jorge Linares match. At least that’s what the World Boxing Council wants to happen.
Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) has already turned down a title shot against WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, so why, pray tell, would he choose to face Fortuna?
Ryan vs. Fortuna is a 50-50 fight on paper, and I can’t see that match-up happening from Garcia’s perspective. Why would Ryan take a fight with an experienced former 130-lb champion like Fortuna when he’s looking for a massive cash-grab against Manny Pacquiao and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis?
If Ryan has no interest in fighting Haney (25-0, 15 KOs), it seems illogical for the WBC to order him to defend his interim 135-lb title against Fortuna? But this is an excellent way for the WBC to discover whether Ryan is serious about fighting for their titles.
I mean, if King Ryan chooses to reject the WBC’s orders for him to defend his interim 135lb strap against former WBA super featherweight champion Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs), they can and should strip him of his interim WBC belt and free it up for someone else to fight for.
Ryan already said recently that he has no interest in fighting Fortuna, who he says would be a “backward move” Fortuna to take. I guess the WBC hasn’t been following what Ryan has been saying, or maybe they don’t care.
The Golden Boy promoted King Ryan will be meeting with his promoter, Oscar De la Hoya, this week to map out his future to a world title.
It’s unclear why De La Hoya would even need to have that meeting with Ryan when he already earned the WBC mandatory and interim lightweight title with his win last January over Luke Campbell.
But rather than take the fight, Ryan went in a different direction, saying he wanted to fight Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Interestingly, when Tank took Ryan up on his offer, he backpedaled away, telling boxing fans that he was putting Gervonta to the side so that he could fight Manny Pacquiao.
That fight isn’t happening either now, and the last thing Ryan said is he ONLY wants Pacquiao or Tank, and no one else. Unless Ryan changes his mind about only wanting to fight those two, he’s not going to be fighting Fortuna.
If Ryan says ‘no’ to the Fortuna fight, the WBC can strip him of his interim lightweight belt and order someone else to face Javier. At this point, it isn’t easy to know what direction Ryan will take in his career.
Although he’s done nothing in terms of beating quality opposition, his attitude is similar to older, more established fighters like Terence Crawford.
It’s obviously crazy and self-defeating for Ryan to take this stance, as he’s undermining his career before it’s even taken off.
But if you look at it from a position where Ryan might not have the self-belief that he can beat Fortuna and Haney, so it makes sense for him to reject the fights.
If Ryan can fight against Tank Davis or Pacquiao, he can retire with the money he makes from the match. He’s already said he’s going to hang up his gloves at 26.
If he can get a big payday against Tank Pacquiao, he can accelerate his retirement plans by four years and walk away in 2021 at age 22.