Worldwide

Ryan Garcia To Battle Luke Campbell, For WBC Interim Lightweight Crown

Published

on

Ryan Garcia To Battle Luke Campbell, For WBC Interim Lightweight Crown

A fight between young gunner Ryan Garcia, and English vet Luke Campbell has been agreed to, for the WBC Interim Lightweight World Championship.

During a Zoom video conference, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, repping Campbell (20-3 with 16 KOs; age 32), and Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions on behalf of Garcia (20-0 with 17 KOs; age 22), said that a deal has been hashed out, per the WBC.

“They requested to the WBC President Mauricio Sulaimán a 7-day extension in order to work out last minute details and prepare and sign the corresponding contracts,” according to a WBC press release.

Who will win, and how? We're guessing Americans think Ryan will show his buzz is reality, and predict a Garcia win, while Brits will forecast a W for Cool Hand Luke.

Campbell is 3-2 in his last five, with the two defeats coming in step-up matches, versus Jorge Linares and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Garcia has been angling for a battle with Linares, and that still could come.

Garcia has been beefing some with promoter Golden Boy, publicly making clear he'd like his purses to be in the neighborhood of what Devin Haney has been getting. No word as yet on what financial terms are for him, and how satisfied he is with the purse.

NOTE: I'm impressed with some of the forward thinking by the WBC. The transparency of making a purse bid open to media and fans is a step in the right direction.

In the release, it is written that, “At the upcoming WBC 58th Annual Convention, the WBC Board of Governors will consider a proposal to adjust the WBC Rules and Regulations as necessary to allow all purse bid ceremonies to be conducted electronically.  That measure will save the participating promoters money and traveling time, and will allow the media and even the fans be present during purse offer ceremonies.”

Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson. The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999. Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.