Ryan Garcia Back In November?

One of the brightest stars in the lower weight classes has been absent from virtually all of 2021, however, reports heading into the weekend say that unbeaten, former WBC #1 Lightweight Ryan Garcia will be back just before the end of the year.

Boxing insider Steve Kim reported first that Garcia is slated to fight former Jr. Lightweight World Champ, Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz,  on November 27th, probably in southern California,

told by multiple sources that the Joseph Diaz-Ryan Garcia is set to take place on Nov 27 @ Staples Center in Los Angeles…. #boxing

— Steve Kim (@SteveKim323) October 8, 2021

Later on Friday, ESPN’s Mike Coppinger got comments from both fighters about their potential matchup,

.@RyanGarcia: “Since he came out and beat Fortuna I took the opportunity to beat JoJo. Now it ends questions if I was scared to fight Fortuna. I'm excited to be back; I'm ready to continue my momentum where I left off. I missed the sport of boxing. I missed the ring.”

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) October 8, 2021

Garcia saying in particular, “Now it ends questions if I was scared to fight (Javier) Fortuna. I’m excited to be back; I’m ready to continue my momentum where I left off. I missed the sport of boxing. I missed the ring.”

Garcia is referencing Diaz having replaced and then beaten the veteran Fortuna back in July, after Garcia cited mental health reasons for pulling out of headlining the main event for Golden Boy Promotions.

Garcia wrote on social media back in May,

“Thank you to everyone showing there support! With the help of my support team and my family, I’m making steps forward. Why anxiety and depression hit me like a truck and why I’m still recovering I’ll never know. But I’m trying to cope with the issues I’m having! This bag is my anxiety and I’m swinging with my full intent to destroy it!!” said Garcia in the post.

Garcia was last in the ring on January 2nd, when he got his most credible win of his 21-0 pro career with a TKO over England’s Luke Campbell in Dallas. The Californian had been slated to potentially fight the WBC’s 135 lb. champ, Devin Haney, but instead was trying to make a bout with either Gervonta Davis or potentially, Manny Pacquiao at the beginning of the year. However, those two huge names both passed on the possibility of fighting him.

As for Diaz, the southpaw is 32-1-1 and used his right jab and straight lefts behind it to take control of the fight with Fortuna and win easily back this Summer.