Ryan Garcia says negotiations for a fight with Floyd Mayweather are underway, and he wants the undefeated legend to stop dragging his feet. Garcia confirmed the talks during an interview with Fred Beck of Fred Talks Fighting in Miami on Friday night, where he was appearing for Brand Risk Promotions, Bloody Elbow reported. The message to Mayweather, boiled down, was to get serious or get out of the way.
The interview went sideways in the way Garcia interviews tend to. With his belt on display, he got into it with Adrien Broner, and at one point turned to Broner and asked, “You think Floyd can f with me?” From there he laid out his plan for the fight in some detail.
“If I get him hurt early it’s over. I’ve seen him, he’s a small man, his wrists are baby’s, he is a small man. I don’t give a f what his name is You know what? F him,” Garcia said, adding that he will “knock out Floyd.”
The swagger has a fresh receipt behind it. Garcia, the current WBC welterweight champion, made the first defense of that title last month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and it was a one-sided mess. He stopped Conor Benn in the second round. Eddie Hearn, Benn’s promoter, has since predicted Benn will retire in his first reaction to the loss. Garcia has spent the weeks after that win on a media tour across the country, and his profile is about as big as it has ever been.
The other door
Mayweather is one option on the table. The more realistic next fight, according to Bloody Elbow, is longtime rival Teofimo Lopez, who just beat Rolly Romero to win the WBA welterweight belt. That one makes sense on paper in a way the Mayweather fight doesn’t. Two reigning welterweight champions, an existing grudge and real titles on the line. Mayweather has only emerged as a serious possibility over the last few weeks, which in boxing terms means everybody is still very much at the talking stage.
Garcia didn’t offer specifics on money, date, venue, weight or rules, and nothing in the reporting suggests a deal is close. “Negotiations have begun” is a phrase boxing uses roughly as often as fighters say they’re in the best shape of their lives.
My take: I’ll believe the Mayweather fight when there’s a number on a sportsbook board, and right now there isn’t one. Every Mayweather negotiation in history has gone at Floyd’s pace, and Garcia publicly ordering him to hurry up is a funny way to start. The Lopez fight is the one I’d actually want to price. Two belts, two guys who can’t stand each other, and Garcia coming off a second-round demolition at T-Mobile Arena. If his team takes the Mayweather payday instead, fine, it’s a business. But the fight that tells us who Ryan Garcia is at 147 has Teofimo Lopez standing across from him.
