WBC's Sulaiman: Mayweather can fight Garcia for title if he passes medicals and gets licence
Garcia says he fights Mayweather on 6 February in Las Vegas. Mayweather, 50-0, has not confirmed it and has not had a professional fight since 2017.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman says Floyd Mayweather would be allowed to fight Ryan Garcia for the WBC welterweight title, as long as he passes full medicals and holds a boxing licence.
Sulaiman told Fight Hub TV that Garcia had already fought his mandatory challenger. "Ryan fought the mandatory, Conor Benn. We mandated that at the last convention. You can never count out Floyd Mayweather," he said.
He said comebacks by great champions had gone both ways. Muhammad Ali, Julio Cesar Chavez and Mike Tyson were "bad examples", champions who ended their careers "on a low", while Manny Pacquiao was a good one: "He was criticised and we were criticised for allowing that fight and he almost became champion."
"It is a matter of evaluating if Floyd has full medicals and has a boxing license," Sulaiman said. "The rules of the WBC rule book allow him to fight for the title."
The Ring said on Friday that Sulaiman would approve a title fight between the two if asked, and that a win would give Mayweather "the possibility of making history". Boxing News said a win could make him the oldest world champion in boxing history.
Garcia has said on a livestream that he will fight Mayweather on 6 February in Las Vegas, and that it will not be an exhibition. Mayweather has not confirmed a date, no promoter has announced the fight, and he has not had a professional fight since beating Conor McGregor in 2017.
The Ring's Mike Coppinger has said Garcia and Teofimo Lopez, the WBA welterweight champion, are trying to finalise a deal for 6 February, with talks for Garcia v Mayweather aimed at after that. Garcia made the first defence of his WBC title in September, knocking out Britain's Conor Benn in the second round.
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