Ryan Garcia Says He'll Take Floyd Mayweather's Zero in Vegas

Ryan Garcia made the announcement himself, on a Kick livestream, the way he makes most of his announcements. "We have an announcement," the WBC welterweight champion said. "We are going to fight Floyd Mayweather on February 6. Floyd, we're going to kick your ass. This is not an exhibition. This is a real fight. I'm going to take his zero. It's going to be in Vegas." BoxingScene, talkSPORT and SportBible all carried the same words from the same stream. Then Garcia added the part that tells you how he means it: "I'm coming to hurt him really badly. I want to put him in the hospital for two days. I'm not playing."

What Garcia says is agreed, per Combat Sports UK's account of his claims, is a professional fight at 147 pounds — his WBC title on the line, Mayweather's 50-0 record on the other side of the ledger. Garcia is 28, 26-2 with 21 knockouts and one no-contest, and the belt is one Mayweather's division used to run through. He won it from Mario Barrios earlier this year and made his first defense on September 12 in Las Vegas, knocking out mandatory challenger Conor Benn in the second round (Big Fight Weekend). The sport expected the next defense to be a unification with WBA champion Teofimo Lopez. Garcia, out loud, has other plans.

The other name in the announcement is the reason anyone stops scrolling. Mayweather is 50-0 with 27 knockouts, and he has not fought a sanctioned professional bout since August 2017, when he stopped Conor McGregor in the tenth round at T-Mobile Arena (BoxingScene). His last world title fight was in 2015, and the last time he made 147 pounds was 2015 too. He turns 50 on February 24 — eighteen days after the date Garcia named.

Mayweather has pointed at this fight himself. Just not at this date. Announcing a December 19 exhibition in Bangkok against Matt Floyd, he wrote on Instagram that the bout was "a lil tune-up before me and Ryan Garcia lock up" (Combat Sports UK). That is the whole of his confirmation. He has not confirmed February 6, and no promoter has announced the fight.

The sanctioning body, at least, is ready. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told Fight Hub TV that the rules allow Mayweather to challenge for the title, as long as he passes his medicals and holds a license: "Ryan fought the mandatory, Conor Benn. We mandated that at the last convention. You can never count out Floyd Mayweather." Sulaiman named the graveyard himself — Muhammad Ali, Julio Cesar Chavez and Mike Tyson are, in his words, mostly "bad examples" of legends who came back — and then he named the exception. Manny Pacquiao returned last year and held Barrios, the man Garcia took the belt from, to a draw in a WBC title fight. "He was criticised, and we were criticised for allowing that fight," Sulaiman said, "and he almost became champion."

The paper wall is higher than the WBC's door. Mayweather is being sued by CSI Sports, which says it paid him $4.65 million for exclusive promotional rights to fights with Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao, and that he accepted a $2.75 million advance from Netflix toward the Pacquiao rematch anyway (talkSPORT). CSI is seeking its advances back plus damages, and talkSPORT reports Mayweather is contractually obliged to fight Tyson and Pacquiao before he fights anyone else. Past the lawsuit sits Nevada itself: a 49-year-old who has not been licensed for a professional fight in nine years has to convince the commission, not just the sanctioning body (BoxingScene).

There is also a second fighter holding a claim on the same night. The Ring has reported Garcia and Teofimo Lopez in advanced talks for a unification fight on February 6, in New York or Las Vegas (Combat Sports UK). Garcia gave Mayweather a "final warning" on October 30 — you called me and wanted this fight, he wrote, and I am fighting on February 6 regardless, so unless you actually make this happen, this fight is gone. On November 10 he posted a sparring clip tagged #feb6th. The date is his, and he keeps treating it as fixed. The opponent is the part still being decided.

So the honest state of the loudest announcement of the fall: the champion says it is on, the sanctioning body says it is allowed, and the 50-0 legend has called his own December exhibition a tune-up for exactly this fight — and none of it is signed. If it signs, February 6 in Las Vegas is a 28-year-old champion trying to take the zero off a man eighteen days short of 50, for a title that man last held a decade ago. The Fight front's week runs through Madison Square Garden first: on Saturday, Kayla Harrison defends against Amanda Nunes and Ciryl Gane defends the heavyweight title against Josh Hokit at UFC 334, and on Christmas Eve in Dubai, Jake Paul has his own career staked against Cedric Doumbe.

The rest of the fight week's coverage — UFC 334 at the Garden and the road to Christmas Eve in Dubai — lives on the Fight front.