Ryan Garcia Gives Isaac Cruz One Last December Chance
Ryan Garcia is putting a clock on Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz.
The WBC welterweight champion says December is on the table after Cruz called him out in the ring Saturday night in San Diego.
Cruz stopped Nestor Bravo in the sixth round at Pechanga Arena and kept his interim WBC 140-pound title.
Then he turned to the cameras.
“Hey, Ryan, I’m here, my next fight for you,” Cruz said. “Come on, Ryan, come on.”
Garcia had picked Bravo before the fight. He changed that take after the knockout.
“Bravo pit bull proved me wrong tonight,” Garcia wrote on X. “Let’s do this in December the offer is on the table.”
He added a line that framed the size of the challenge in his own mind.
“I can tame a lion I’m not to concerned about taming a pit bull.”
That was only the first reply. Garcia followed with a harder message for fans who have watched this pairing stall before.
“To make this very clear to the fans I’ve asked to fight Pitbull twice, and one time he was my mandatory and he has denied twice,” Garcia said. “This will be my last time ever attempting to give him a chance.”
The last sentence was the ultimatum.
“If he denies I’ll never entertain this again.”
Nothing is signed. The December date is Garcia’s offer, not a confirmed card.
Garcia is 26-2 with 21 knockouts and one no-contest. He won the WBC welterweight title from Mario Barrios in February and made the first defense against Benn.
Cruz is 29-3-2 with 19 knockouts. Bravo fell to 24-2.
Their Saturday fight was messy before it was short. Referee Thomas Taylor took two points from Bravo for fouls. Cruz still found the left hook at 1:30 of the sixth and Bravo did not beat the count.
Cruz had not fought since a December majority draw with Lamont Roach. The Bravo win put him back in the conversation he wants, which is a bigger name at a bigger weight.
That is the other problem. Cruz holds an interim belt at 140. Garcia is the full champion at 147.
Someone has to move. Garcia has not said he is coming back down. Cruz has not said he is moving up on a signed contract.
Garcia’s version of history is that Cruz already walked away twice, including once as a mandatory. Cruz’s version on Saturday was simpler. He wanted the next fight to be Garcia.
Those two stories now sit on the same table.
A December fight would come fast. Cruz just boxed on Sept. 19. Garcia boxed seven days earlier. Promoters, networks, and the WBC still have to agree on weight, date, and money.
Until that happens, the only official development is the public exchange.
Cruz asked for the fight in the ring. Garcia put December on the table and said this is the last time he will do it.
The next move belongs to Cruz and the people who make the contracts.