Interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan Garcia will fight Javier Fortuna on Friday 9 July in an event streamed globally on DAZN.
Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) became the title holder after defeating Britain’s Luke Campbell at the start of 2021 and is the mandatory opponent of WBC outright champion Devin Haney, but first he will meet 31-year-old Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) this summer over 12 rounds.
Speaking about the 22-year-old Californian, Golden Boy chairman and CEO Oscar De La Hoya said: “Little by little, Ryan Garcia is silencing all of the skeptics.
“And the only way to keep doing that is by continually facing tougher challenges. Javier Fortuna is an experienced southpaw who can be very slippery when he wants to avoid punches. It’s a dangerous fight for Ryan, but I expect him to show newer elements in his arsenal before ending matters by knockout.”
Fortuna could prove an even tougher test than Campbell - the first and only fighter to drop Garcia in a professional fight so far - and Garcia said: “Fortuna is eager and will be ready, but so will I.
“No one can beat me in the lightweight division, period. I'm going to show the world who I am.”
Fortuna’s last fight was a win over Antonio Lozada Torres in November 2020, and the fighter warned Garcia that he, “should take this fight very seriously and train properly because he will be facing, by far, the best fighter of his career."
“Hopefully on fight night, there will be no excuses for his loss. I expect this fight to be a war while it lasts, but I have too much of everything for Ryan Garcia. His last fight showed how easy he is to hit. And his power won’t mean anything to me. But mine will put him to sleep.”
The fight will take place on Friday, July 9, and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN worldwide, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.