By Dan Ambrose: Ryan Garcia says he’s interested in fighting the recently beaten lightweight world title challenger Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz when he returns to the ring. Reacting to Cruz (22-2-1, 15 KOs) saying he’d fight him in his patio, Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) says he’s game to fight the much shorter 5’4″ Pitbull.
If Ryan backs out of the Isaac Cruz fight, his reputation will be completely shot. Fans will have lost faith in Ryan if he fails to stick it out, but maybe that’s a good thing for him.
Ryan could then focus his energy on being a social media star rather than wasting time on boxing, which he seems to have lost interest in.
Cruz is coming off a narrow 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on December 5th. The Mexican slugger pressured Tank continuously and got the better of him in many rounds. Tank was lucky to get the decision because many boxing fans had him losing to the pressure fighter Cruz.
In the end, the judges scored it for Tank by the scores 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112. The performance by Pitbull created a new star, and there would be a lot of interest from fans in seeing him and Ryan Garcia battle it out for a chance to fight for a world title in 2022.
Unlike Ryan, Cruz will gladly accept a world title fight against ANY of the champions at 135. He’s not going to back out with the case of battle nerves, being distracted by other potential fights or injuries.
King Ryan wants Isaac Cruz fight
Ryan, 23, hasn’t fought last since last January and he needs a good tune-up opponent to get him back in the mix for a world title shot.
Undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. has expressed interest in fighting the undefeated King Ry, but he wants to see him back in the ring first before he seriously entertains the idea of giving him a title shot.
If Ryan does agree to fight the 23-year-old Pitbull Cruz, he’s going to need to make sure he doesn’t pull out of the contest like he did three times in 2021 in fights against Javier Fortuna, Tank Davis, and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr.
With Pitbull Cruz not being a world champion, it won’t be as big a disappointment for him if Ryan pulls out of a fight with him.
Will Ryan Garcia pull out of the Pitbull fight?
Obviously, it would be a buzzkill for Pitbull, but it would be helpful for other fighters to learn that it’s a complete waste of time to agree to a fight with Ryan because he’ll only flak out for one reason or another.
“Cruz said he’d fight me in my patio, and he also said he’ll probably beat me. We definitely have to see that, and I look forward to that fight coming back,” said Ryan Garcia on social media.
“It should be a good one. Cruz is a pressure fighter, a pretty good one, and has little movement. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, but we’ll have to see how he does against me,” said Ryan.
“I’m still just as fast and as explosive as I’ve always been and I think with my speed, and my timing and my reach, I think I should be able to get the job done.
“We’ll see, though. I mean, obviously, he gave Gervonta a good a pretty tough fight. Some would say he beat him. I had Gervonta winning by two rounds,” said King Ry Garcia.
“Gervonta could have made it way easier than he made it. I think he gave him too much respect, but it’s not my problem,” said Garcia on Tank’s win over Pitbull Cruz.