Luke Campbell reveals Ryan Garcia fight announcement

One of the intriguing smaller weight, non-title battles that is still looming out there this Fall for a date and site has apparently, now got both. British star Lightweight, Luke Campbell, says that Friday we’ll know for sure when and where he’s meeting California unbeaten contender, Ryan Garcia.

Campbell posted on social media mid-day Monday, London time, that he is anxious for the date and place to be made official by his promotion, Matchroom Boxing along with Garcia’s Golden Boy:

Big news coming this Friday…? #Coolhand

— Luke Campbell MBE (@luke11campbell) September 7, 2020

The WBC made it official last month that their demand for a Campbell-Garcia fight for the 135 lb. #1 contender spot had been finalized. And, that the bout would not be going to purse bids. Matchroom and Eddie Hearn secured the fight, and will likely look to put it in the U.K., probably in November when some fans can be present.

Undoubtedly, the biggest hold up in this scenario has been the, at times, spoiled behavior of the 22 year old Garcia, 20-0, 17 KOs, who even as recently as July refused to cooperate with his own promoter De La Hoya. That’s, when Golden Boy wanted Garcia for the main event in what they had hoped would be their first fight card back post Covid-19 on July 4th.

Garcia has been in “fight limbo” for 60 days, since that dispute.

The WBC help put this fight into motion by mandating in late July that both Campbell and Garcia were their top two contenders to fight the WBC’s current “interim” World Champ, Devin Haney.

It is further confusing because Unified Lightweight champ, Vasiliy Lomachenko, is also the WBC’s “Franchise champ” at 135 lb. The WBC previously gave that same designation to Canelo Alvarez, as middleweight champ.

That’s where that champion can go and fight in another weight class or not even defend the WBC belt in that specific weight class. Yet, if they come back into that weight class and want to call themselves a “champion” and have a title defense, the WBC will still sanction it.

Lomachenko is set to take on New Yorker and unbeaten IBF champ, Teofimo Lopez, in mid-October in one of the most anticipated fights for the final four months of 2020. They will do so in the Top Rank Las Vegas “bubble” and without fans.

Lomachenko took out Campbell, 20-3, 16 KOs. as the popular English fighter suffered the loss for the vacant WBC Lightweight belt last August 31st, in a 12-round decision win in London.

As for Campbell-Garcia, Hearn had hinted to the Athletic last month, on his thoughts for the time frame for the elimination bout,

“Obviously we’d love to have crowds back through the door and we hope by middle-end of November this will be a reality. We are finalizing contracts,” he said at that time.

And now, it appears to be a reality for the Lightweight showdown.