Ryan Garcia Says Isaac Cruz Has Ducked a December Fight
Ryan Garcia says Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz does not want a December date.
Asked whether the fight was happening this winter, Garcia did not hedge. “Pitbull do not want it, my guy,” he said. “I told you that.”
He said he would give Cruz one more chance. Then he counted the times he believes the Mexican has already walked away.
“I’m gonna give him one more chance and he’s denied, he’s ducked three times,” Garcia said. “Once you’ve ducked three times, bro, there’s nothing more to say. He ducked. That’s it.”
Someone off camera agreed. “Bro ducked, for sure.”
That is Garcia’s version. It is not a signed contract, and it is not Cruz’s side of the story.
Cruz called Garcia out on September 19 in San Diego after knocking out Nestor Bravo in the sixth round to keep his interim WBC super lightweight title. “Hey Ryan, I’m here. My next fight, with you,” Cruz said after the win.
Garcia answered on social media the same night. He had picked Bravo. Cruz made him look wrong.
“Let’s do this in December. The offer is on the table,” Garcia posted then. He told his attorney to move on it and warned that another rejection would close the door for good.
A week later, Garcia is treating that door as already shut. The clip is short. The charge is blunt. He is presenting December as a finished conversation Cruz refused to join.
The weight gap is the practical problem underneath the talk. Garcia is the WBC welterweight champion at 147 pounds. He stopped Conor Benn in two rounds on September 12 in Las Vegas in his first title defense. Cruz has been fighting at 140. A December fight would almost certainly mean Cruz moving up.
Garcia is 26-2 with 21 knockouts. Cruz is 29-3-2 with 19 knockouts. Both men can sell a date. Neither man has announced one with the other.
Garcia has also pointed at Teofimo Lopez for a welterweight unification. That fight was the first name he floated after Benn. Cruz became the December option only after the Bravo knockout and the public callout.
Cruz’s camp has been reported as wanting more time than a December turnaround after a six-round war. That is a scheduling argument, not a confession. Garcia is calling it a duck.
The accusation will stick if Cruz never answers the date. It will look cheap if Cruz signs for early 2027 and Garcia has already moved on. Right now there is an offer Garcia says he made, a callout Cruz made first, and no bout on a calendar.
December is six weeks away from a handshake, not six weeks away from a weigh-in. Until a promoter puts both names on a poster, Garcia’s “he ducked” line is a claim, and Cruz’s ring-side challenge is still the last official word from the other corner.
