By Jeff Aronow: Leonard Ellerbe of Mayweather Promotions is once again expressing skepticism about the possibility of unbeaten lightweight star Ryan Garcia facing Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz in March or April.
Steve Kim reported on Tuesday that Golden Boy Promotions are in negotiations to put together a fight between the highly ranked Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) and Pitbull Cruz (22-2-1, 15 KOs).
Ellerbe says while it sounds good on the surface, a fight between the recent former world title challenger Pitbull Cruz, 23, and King Ry for the first quarter of 2022, it’s “Bulls**t.”
Ryan Garcia taking a big risk
What makes Ellerbe doubt the viability of a Ryan-Cruz match happening in early next year is the hand injury that Ryan suffered recently, as well as his long layoff.
The 23-year-old Ryan Garcia hasn’t fought since last January when he had to get up off the deck to come back and stop the light puncher Luke Campbell in the seventh round.
What further makes the Garcia vs. Cruz fight unlikely is that Golden Boy Promotions are reportedly not in favor of this fight for King Ry. Chris Mannix of DAZN reports that Golden Boy doesn’t like the match because of Ryan coming back from a hand injury.
Ryan wants the fight, though, and he’s the one pushing for it. It’s Ryan’s career, and he needs this fight more than anything to re-establish himself as a serious contender and not the FLAKE that many boxing fans view him.
Garcia wants this. My understanding is Golden Boy doesn’t, largely because they don’t like the idea of Garcia, coming off a major hand injury, facing someone as iron chinned as Cruz in his first fight back. https://t.co/REC6g7KqJH
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) December 22, 2021
It doesn’t sound promising that the Ryan Garcia vs. Isaac Cruz fight will happen. If Golden Boy is dragging their feet on this fight happening, the chances of it happening are slim unless Ryan sits in on the negotiations and makes sure that every effort is being made to get it completed.
Ryan would be taking a massive gamble in facing Pitbull Cruz because he’s a much better fighter than anyone King Ry has ever met during his five-year pro career.
Beating Pitbull Cruz would be HUGE for Ryan
On the positive side, if Ryan beats Cruz, he’ll earn respect from boxing fans, and the money he’ll make for his subsequent fights will likely increase substantially.
That being said, if Ryan loses the fight, he’ll be viewed as damaged goods, and the fans that he has will jump overboard off the sinking King Ry ship.
But with the way Ryan’s carer is going now, he’s already in a desperate situation. Fans are already abandoning him because he pulled out of two fights in 2021 against Javier Fortuna and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr.
I think Ryan knows how bleak things are looking for him right now, which is why he’s willing to take a massive risk in fighting Pitbull Cruz.
Interestingly, Ryan’s promoters at Golden Boy aren’t able to see how bad things are for him. Still, maybe they believe they can resurrect him by matching him against more lower-level opposition like the ones he’s been facing virtually his entire career.
Ellerbe expresses doubt
“All bulls**t, it sounds good though, so let me get this straight he’s supposedly coming off a hand injury, and they [Golden Boy Promotions] ‘trying’ to make a Cruz fight. Yeah, ok👌🏾,” said Leonard Ellerbe said on @LEllerbe.
The Mayweather Promotions CEO Ellerbe is reacting to this Tweet from Steve Kim about Golden Boy working on negotiating a fight between the unbeaten King Ry and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz for March or April.
“I was told that Golden Boy is trying to make a fight between Ryan Garcia and Isaac Cruz for March/April. Hats off if they actually get this done. Let’s see where this goes… #boxing,” said @SteveKim323.
In actual fact, it shouldn’t be hard for Golden Boy to put the fight together between Ryan and ‘Pitbull Cruz. For one, Cruz, 23, isn’t a big star, and he’s coming off a loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on December 5th.
If Cruz had beaten Tank, that would be one thing, but he lost the fight, and he’s still well known among the casual boxing fans.
Yeah, the hardcore fans know of Pitbull Cruz, and many of them were impressed with what they saw in his fight with Tank, but he’s still NOT a big enough name to price himself out for a fight with Ryan.
Cruz needs this fight more than Ryan right now, so he’s likely not going to ask for the moon & the stars when it comes to the negotiations. For that reason, if this fight doesn’t happen, you have to assume that Golden Boy didn’t want it to take place.