Stevenson seized the WBC lightweight championship from Edwin De Los Santos in his second fight at 135 pounds on November 16, 2023. The former lineal super featherweight champion has gone after many top fighters since proving himself in the division, including WBA lightweight champ Gervonta Davis. He also pressed Ryan Garcia to grant him a fight after his bout with Devin Haney during a in March. ‘King Ry’ accepted Stevenson’s challenge by saying, “If I don’t get the rematch with Tank [Davis], you have my word, we’ll fight.”
Garcia has vocalized who he wants to fight next following his stunning unanimous decision win over Haney, where he scored three knockdowns in rounds eight, 10 and 11. Yet, he has not mentioned Stevenson as a fighter he’s targeting.
His father, Henry Garcia, has also been vocal following the upset victory. He issued strong words about Stevenson in an . “It would be the same result as Haney, and imma tell you why. We fought Shakur in the amateurs. People don’t know this, but we fought him in the amateurs. Ryan was only 16-years-old, maybe going on 17. We kicked his a
in the first round. But they were grooming this dude for the Olympics. So we fell short by two points. But we kicked his a
, and Shakur knows it,” the elder Garcia said when asked if his son would honor his word and give “Killer Kurr” a fight.“But I’ll tell you this much, Ryan fights Shakur, he’ll knock him out. Guarantee. Wobble him or knock him out.”
Stevenson got fired up once he caught wind of those comments. He came back with on the morning of April 24.
“His old a** been hating on me for years tell em im ready whenever,” the lightweight contender wrote.
Haney walked away from his fight with Garcia with a severely swollen face, accentuating the number “Ry” did on him with his power punches. Despite Haney shooting down rumors that the 25-year-old broke his jaw, “The Dream” has fallen out of top 10 pound-for-pound rankings. Therefore, “King Ryan’s” father making such a statement about Stevenson, who is a perfect 21-0 as a highly esteemed fighter rubbed the defensive specialist the wrong way.
That said, Stevenson would have to jump up in weight again to take on the California native. The younger Garcia declared that he is done at 135 pounds and could be finished at 140 as well on the April 23 episode of the PBD podcast. He’s set on fighting Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz at welterweight. Stevenson’s camp could try to negotiate a bout at a catchweight around 143 pounds. But, adding an extra eight pounds for a fight against “The Flash” could be too much too soon.
