WBC rescinds Ryan Garcia vs Isaac Cruz eliminator order

Earlier today, Golden Boy revealed that Ryan Garcia would make his return to the ring in July. Those of you hoping he’d face Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz are S.O.L., however, as the WBC has canceled its previously ordered final eliminator because “both fighters had prior scheduled fights.”

This comes on the heels of Garcia (22-0, 18 KO) throwing a lengthy Twitter tantrum about Cruz (23-2-1, 16 KO) and his management team.

Though the announcement goes on to state that “[t]he door remains open for a possible match in the future,” there’s some staggering amounts of headassery at play here. Even if the WBC is telling the truth here, which seems unlikely considering that, you know, neither of them have fights on the schedule, there was nothing stopping them from checking the pair’s availability beforehand and avoiding this whole mess.

There’s also nothing stopping them from keeping the order in place and simply moving the start of the negotiation period to after their next fights instead of just going “oh, maybe they’ll fight eventually.” It’s not like they ever adhere to their regulations unless it’s convenient for them; just look at how they let Jaime Munguia skip a final eliminator with Sergiy Derevyanchenko, skip a second one with Carlos Adames, and still remain in their top two at 160.

And even if you buy Garcia and Oscar’s claims that Al Haymon is the problem, that’s what purse bids are for.

Calling it now: while ESPN’s Salvador Rodriguez claims Javier Fortuna’s getting the call and Eddie Hearn’s pushing for Maxi Hughes, I say it’ll be Ryan Garcia vs Yuriorkis Gamboa.