Ryan Garcia names Floyd Mayweather for 6 February and wants him 'in the hospital for 2 days'
Garcia said on a livestream that the Las Vegas fight is 'real life', not an exhibition. Mayweather has not confirmed it, and has called his 19 December fight with Matt Floyd a 'lil tune-up' before facing Garcia.
Ryan Garcia says he will fight Floyd Mayweather on 6 February in Las Vegas, and that it will not be an exhibition.
"We have an announcement. We're gonna be fighting Floyd Mayweather February 6th," Garcia said on a livestream.
Asked whether it would be an exhibition, he said: "No, no, no, this is real life." He said the fight is "gonna be in Vegas", then added: "I wanna put him in the hospital for 2 days."
Mayweather, the unbeaten 50-0 former champion, has not confirmed a date, and no promoter has announced the fight. He has already said he wants to face Garcia, though. When he announced a 19 December fight with Matt Floyd in Bangkok, he wrote on Instagram: "This is a lil tune-up before me and Ryan Garcia lock up." That bout is expected to be an exhibition.
Garcia has said Mayweather agreed to fight him at 147lb for the WBC welterweight title, with Mayweather's unbeaten record on the line. On 30 October he gave Mayweather a "final warning", saying he would fight on 6 February regardless. Mayweather has not had a professional fight since beating Conor McGregor in 2017.
The date is also the one in play for Garcia and Teofimo Lopez. The Ring has reported that they are in advanced talks for a 147lb unification fight on 6 February in New York or Las Vegas. Garcia made the first defence of his WBC title on 12 September, knocking out Britain's Conor Benn in the second round in Las Vegas.
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About this report
Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.