Mikey Garcia is to leave the lightweight division behind for the foreseeable future as a run at 140 or 147 pound draws near.
The multi-weight champion is eyeing a run north of 135 pounds despite being completely dominated by Errol Spence.
Garcia looked way out of his depth despite his considerable talent against Spence, which was roundly criticized as a step too far.
It was expected that Garcia would consider a possible fight with lightweight king Vasyl Lomachenko, although the chances of that are now dead.
Lomachenko has long said the extent of his weight move would be his current division and he would not be campaigning at 140 anytime soon.
This leaves the IBF champion Richard Commey and whoever takes the now vacant WBC title left behind by Garcia as Lomachenko’s main targets.
Luke Campbell is the WBC mandatory challenger. The Briton will now be pitted against the next available challenger.
Zaur Abdullaev is number two in the rankings, whilst Devin Haney is number three. It’s highly possible one of those two will be in the opposite corner to Campbell next.
Abdullaev holds the silver belt, whilst Haney is on the verge of joining DAZN. This is the same US platform Campbell is currently with and would seemingly be an easy fight to make.
For Garcia, the Mexican-American will hopefully settle at 140 pounds for the foreseeable future. The 31 year-old still has time on his side and has form in the division as an ex-IBF title holder.
Ivan Baranchyk holds his old strap, which is part of the World Boxing Super Series tournament.
Whoever comes out on top between Baranchyk, Josh Taylor, Regis Prograis and Kiryl Relikh could now become Garcia’s number one target.
Talk of a fight with WBC welterweight ruler Shawn Porter would seem like a wrong move for Garcia at this point in time.
WBC LIGHTWEIGHT RANKINGS (APRIL 2019)
1 Luke Campbell (GB)
2 Zaur Abdullaev (Russia) SILVER
3 Devin Haney (US) INTL
4 Teofimo Lopez (US) NABF
5 Javier Fortuna (Dom. R.)
6 Yvan Mendy (France)
7 Jose Pedraza (P. Rico) * CBP/P
8 Masayoshi Nakatani (Japan) OPBF
9 Edis Tatli (Kosovo/Finland)
10 Jorge Linares (Venezuela)
11 Francesco Patera (Blegium) EBU
12 Ryan Garcia (US)
13 Antonio Lozada Jr. (Mexico)
14 Aik Shakhnazaryan (Russia)
15 Emiliano Marsili (Italy)
