By Huck Allen: Ryan Garcia is making good progress in coming back from his hand surgery and he’ll be looking to return to the ring in early next year against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz.
If Garcia, 23, beats Cruz, it could open the door for a mega-fight against WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in the second half of 2022.
That’s a fight that Ryan wanted to take earlier this year, but he got sidetracked with a potential fight against Manny Pacquiao distracting him.
Tank Davis vs. Ryan Garcia possible in 2022
Unfortunately, the Pacquiao fight failed to happen, resulting in Ryan missing out on the Tank Davis fight that he could have had this year.
It’s good that Ryan is still young and popular enough to get the fight with Tank Davis in 2022, as long as Mayweather Promotions don’t decide to block the match-up.
Facing the dangerous #2 IBF, #7 WBA, #9 WBO, #11 WBC ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (22-2-1, 15 KOs) is a courageous move on Ryan Garcia’s part because this guy came close to defeating Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis earlier this month December 5th.
Ryan must win this fight against Pitbull Cruz if he’s to challenge for a world title next year against Tank or four-belt lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr.
The World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman is calling Kambosos the undisputed lightweight champion, but Ryan probably won’t mind if he’s one title short of that classification if he chooses to go in that direction next year.
The fans would like to see Ryan take on Kambosos next in his first fight in 2022, but the Australian says he wants to see him get active again before looking to face him.
Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz next for Ryan Garcia
In the meantime, if Kambosos defeated WBC 135-lb champion Devin Haney in early 2022, that will make him the undisputed champion at lightweight and make it a bigger fight for Ryan Garcia when he fights for those belts.
Ryan’s dad Henry Garcia revealed the news on Sunday that he’ll be facing Isaac Cruz next. Here’s what Henry had to say on Instagram about Ryan facing Cruz in his next fight:
“There’s no reason to hate or spread lies that now Ryan is ducking Cruz which is not true. I repeat NOT TRUE . In fact, we will embrace that fight as our first comeback fight.
“Your hearing this from me his dad. Once Ryan has a full recovery, he will come back stronger and accept who ever they put in front of him.”
