By Brian Webber: Ryan Garcia has called out WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis today, telling him to have his promoter Eddie Hearn contact him about putting a fight together.
It looks like Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) plans on poaching Devin Haney’s potential next fight by moving with lightning speed to snatch the fight against the notoriously slow negotiator to pick off the vulnerable WBC 140-lb champion Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) before he or one of the top contenders can get to him to relieve him of his belt.
It’s important that Ryan doesn’t let greed get in the way because this is a doable fight for him, and he would have an excellent chance of beating Prograis.
Haney would be furious if Ryan took the Prograis fight from him because that’s the guy that he’s targeting to try and become a two-division world champion.
The problem that Haney has is he sees himself a big-money fighter now after his wins over Vasily Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr, and he’s likely looking to get an insane amount of money for a fight with Prograis, and he’s going to break Hearn’s bank.
Hearn isn’t going to empty Matchroom’s treasure vault trying to come up with the vast sums that Haney would want for a fight with Prograis, and that’s where Ryan Garcia comes in. If he’s not greedy, he’ll get the Prograis fight because he’s the far more popular fighter than Haney.
“Regis if you want to fight. Please let Eddie know 🥊🥊 I want all that 💨
I’m confident I can do damage at 140. So if you want to make something happen, please contact my team. I’m dead serious,” said Ryan Garcia on a new deleted Tweet.
The fact that Ryan deleted the call-out Tweet of Progais could be an indication that he’d had second thoughts about taking this fight.
If Ryan is still interested in fighting Prograis, it’s definitely a doable one, as long as he doesn’t expect to be getting a similar $15 million purse that he got for his recent fight with Gervonta Davis.
Earlier today, Hearn mentioned having sent an offer to Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) for the Prograis fight, but he sounded less than confident that the fight would get made. Hearn mentioned that #6 WBC Jack Catterall is possible if he fails to get Haney.
Ryan could easily take the fight against Prograis right out from under Haney’s nose and be the one that dethrones him.
It would be important that Ryan not ask for an absurd amount of money because, afteer all, this isn’t Gervonta Davis that he’s targeting. Prograis is a simple blue-collar type of 140-lb champion, and he’s NOT a PPV-level fighter.
If Ryan acted quickly, he could get the Prograis fight and have an excellent chance of winning.
The credit that Ryan would get for beating Prograis would be considerably more than if he were to defeat WBA 140-lb champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero because that guy’s credibility is in the mud after the way he won his title over 40-year-old Ismaeel Barroso.
“If his new trainer Derrick [James], if he’s going to be that authority to Ryan, I think Ryan is a sponge. He wants to learn; he wants to feel like somebody’s teaching him,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fight Hub TV. “So I’m glad that he has Derrick as the trainer because I know he’s going to be there, cracking the whip.
“Yeah, look, he’s learning; he’s growing. This loss against Tank will teach him a lot about himself, about the fighter he is,” Oscar continued about Ryan.
“A loss teaches you everything. A loss teaches you a lot. So he’s surrounded by world champions, he’s surrounded by great fighters, and I’m very positive that he’ll absorb everything he can to become a better fighter,” said De La Hoya.
