Ryan Garcia is done for the year after his December 5th scheduled opponent Luke Campbell tested positive for COVID 19. The unbeaten lightweight Garcia’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions released the news of Campbell’s positive test, and they say the fight will be rescheduled “shortly” with a new date.
The postponement works well for the Garcia vs. Campbell lightweight clash, as they would have had to compete with the Errol Spence Jr vs. Danny Garcia and Tyson Fury vs. Agit Kabayel fights on December 5th.
As good as the Garcia-Campbell fight is, it would play second fiddle to those matches.
King Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) and Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) were scheduled to fight at the Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, California.
The World Boxing Council had ordered the match months ago with the winner to take on WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn posted on social media that Campbell, 33, had already gone through his isolation from his quarantine, and he’ll be resuming training soon. Unfortunately, Campbell won’t be ready to stay on the original December 5th date against King Ryan. Hearn says it’s a “very short delay to this fight.”
The American boxing fans would prefer that Ryan skip the Campbell fight altogether and face WBA lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
There’s a lot more interest from U.S fans in the Tank vs. Garcia fight than seeing Ryan face a guy coming off of a loss to Vasily Lomachenko. It’s hard to get excited at seeing Garia fight Campbell right now.
The WBC’s decision to order the Garcia-Campbell fight is about as strange as the idea to name their new 224-lb weight class the “Bridgerweight” division.
On his Twitter earlier today, Luke said that he’s “feeling well” and anxious to find out the new date.
“Disappointed that my fight is being delayed but these are sadly the times we live in. I’m feeling well and look forward to confirming a new fight date very soon. Stay safe all,” said Campbell on his Twitter.
The Garcia-Campbell match will show whether the social media star King Ryan has the talent to back up popularity outside of the ring.
2012 Olympic gold medalist Campbell has made it a point to needle Ryan about his six million social media followers not helping him when he gets inside the ring for their fight.
Ryan says he feels disrespected by Campbell, and he wants to put him in his place when they eventually fight. The Garcia-Campbell fight is expected to be rescheduled for January.
It would be a good idea for Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing to schedule the Garcia vs. Campbell clash on a weekend where there’s little competition from some of the popular fighters.
