The World Boxing Council has ordered the 22-year-old rising lightweight boxing star to face contender Javier Fortuna for the interim lightweight title and right to be mandatory challenger to champion Devin Haney.
The negotiation period has begun for a Garcia-Fortuna bout with a purse bid scheduled for April 16 if no deal is in place by then.
Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) is a former champion coming off a sixth-round knockout victory over Antonio Lozada Jr. in November. He was the secondary WBC mandatory challenger.
Garcia is one of boxing’s biggest young stars with a significant following, particularly from Gen Z and social media communities. But his mission has been to gain respect for his boxing ability. He made his first big step in that by overcoming a first-round knockdown to beat Campbell earlier this year.
If a bout with Fortuna is finalized, Garcia would have his second consecutive contender to add to his résumé and continue to raise his profile.
It’s gloves on for David Benavidez in an effort to reclaim hisbelt…
The 22-year-old Mexican American boxer and former WBC titlist is set to fight super middleweight world titleholder Anthony Dirrell in a bout mandated by the World Boxing Council.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announced the decision Monday at a news conference in Istanbul, as the organization clarified its position on its 168-pound belt.
Sampson Lewkowicz, who promotes Benavidez, told ESPN that the fight with Dirrell has been agreed to and would take place in August or September.
Sulaiman had been weighing a request from contender Avni Yildirim for an immediate rematch with Dirrell. Benavidez had been due to make a mandatory defense against Dirrell last fall but was stripped of the title when he tested positive for cocaine. He served a suspension and returned to impressively knock out J’Leon Lovein the second round March 16 on the Errol Spence Jr.-Mikey Garciaundercard.
But with the title vacant — the WBC had declared Benavidez its “champion in recess” — Dirrell faced Yildirim for the vacant belt February 23 in Minneapolis, where Dirrell won a 10th-round technical decision in a close, action-packed bout. The fight had been stopped and sent to the scorecards because Dirrell suffered a bad cut over his left eye in the seventh round. By the 10th round, it had gotten worse and Dirrell was ruled unable to continue.
Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs), 27, of Turkey, and his promoter, Ahmet Oener, flew to Mexico City to meet with Sulaiman late last month to make their case for an immediate rematch. The WBC decided against it, but in ordering Dirrell-Benavidez, Sulaiman said Yildirim could return to fight on the Dirrell-Benavidez undercard and that he would get a mandatory shot against the winner of the fight (as long as Yildirim won the interim bout).
“I am very proud of these three fighters,” Sulaiman said. “Dirrell is a two-time WBC champion who has overcome adversity and defeated cancer; Benavidez is a young man who has come back from the evils of recreational drugs and has found a path for a new life; and Yildirim is a national hero hoping to become the first world champion from Turkey, who has dedicated his life with sacrifice and passion to make his dream come true.
“This is what boxing is all about — the best fighting the best and I applaud the three sides for working together in this process.”
Dirrell (33-1-1, 24 KOs), 34, of Flint, Michigan, said he was pleased by Sulaiman’s decision and hopes to face Benavidez when he is able to return to the ring once his cut fully heals.
“I think it’s a big fight for boxing and for the super middleweight division,” Dirrell told ESPN on Monday. “It’s two of the top guys going against each other.”
After Benavidez (21-0, 18 KOs), 22, of Phoenix, knocked out Love he made it clear he wanted to next fight Dirrell, who was ringside, in order to reclaim the belt he had been stripped of.
“I saw Anthony Dirrell with the WBC belt. He can’t call himself champion until he fights me,” Benavidez said in the ring at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, two weeks ago. “That’s my belt. I’m going to go get it. It’s mine.”
Dirrell said Benavidez had simply done to Love what was expected and that he looked forward to fighting him later this year.
“He did what he was supposed to do. All due respect to him, I think he was supposed to get him out of there,” Dirrell said. “They consider [Benavidez] one of the best so why not fight the best?”
Hector “Macho” Camacho is looking for love on the internet… And, he’s letting the cameras follow his every date.
The 50-year-old Puerto Rican former professional boxer will be getting his own program on YouTube’s NuevOn channel that will give his fans a chance to follow Camacho as he looks for a new love, according to his representatives.
Es…Macho Time, filmed in Puerto Rico, Miami and Las Vegas, will follow the adventures of the boxer during the process of finding the woman of his dreams.
Camacho admits the road to finding a new love is long and arduous, but he’s committed to doing what’s needed to correct the mistakes of the past that have prevented him from finding that special someone, his publicist said in a statement.
Camacho was the first Puerto Rican boxerto win the lightweight division titles of the World Boxing Council and the World Boxing Organization, and he won 79 of his 87 bouts, 38 of them by knockout.
Two of his most important victories of his storied career came against Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Es…Macho Time is one of the new programs for the second season of NuevOn, which was launched on April 1 and features shows such as the one starring Sofia Vergara’s son, Mi vida con Toty, and the motivational show Yes you can with Chaban, hosted by artist Alejandro Chaban.
The 24-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer beat heavy favorite Amir Khan in the fourth round to stay undefeated and add another super lightweight belt to his collection on Saturday night.
“I always knew I would win this fight,” said Garcia. “I needed a great fighter in front of me to show how great a fighter I am. Now everyone knows.”
Khan bruised Garcia early, even opening a small cut above his eye. But Garcia sent Khan to the canvas in the third round with a left hook, although the 2004 Olympic silver medalist for Britain was able to beat the count.
At the start of the fourth, though, Garcia swarmed him with power punches, knocking him down twice quickly. Khan got back to his feet each time, but the referee ended the bout at 2:28 of the round.
“It wasn’t my night,” said Khan. “I was coming in with my hands down and Danny took advantage of that. He countered very well against me.”
Garcia now has the World Boxing Association (WBA) title to go along with his WorldBoxing Council (WBC) one. He improved his record to 24-0 with 15 knockouts while Khan fell to 26-3 with 18 KOs.
Khan was originally scheduled to face Lamont Peterson on May 19th in a rematch of their December 10th bout in which Peterson took a 12-round split decision to win Khan’s WBA and IBF titles.
Just days before the bout, Peterson tested positive for synthetic testosterone.
The fight was canceled and he was stripped of his WBA title which was later restored to Khan.
Garcia, who beat Erik Morales for the WBC title on March 24 agreed to fight Khan and took full advantage of the opportunity, defeating the popular fighter in spectacular fashion.
