Ryan Garcia claims he is fighting Teofimo Lopez next and even confirms date

Ryan Garcia insists the first defence of his WBC welterweight title will come against Teofimo Lopez on July 25.

‘King Ry’ snatched the green and gold strap from Mario Barrios in February via a lopsided unanimous decision victory.

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Garcia decked Barrios in the opening stanza and picked apart his adversary in a disciplined display.

Now, he has set his sights on a lucrative clash with Lopez, who dropped his WBO super lightweight title to Shakur Stevenson in January.

‘The Takeover’ has since stated his intentions to move up to 147lbs, and Garcia claims he will welcome Lopez to the division this summer.

“July 25, Teofimo Lopez, bring him on,” Garcia said when asked who he is fighting next during a recent live stream.

Garcia had previously hinted that he was in talks with Lopez during an appearance on the Creators Think Podcast last week.

“I’m out here fighting Devin Haney, Tank Davis, now I’m about to fight Teofimo Lopez,” said Garcia.

“I’m fighting everybody that’s in front of me, but [Gervonta Davis] hasn’t done nothing.”

The recent collapse of a WBA and WBO unification clash between Devin Haney and Rolly Romero had seemingly opened the door for the much-anticipated rematch between Garcia and Haney to happen next.

Three weeks ago, Devin Haney Promotions uploaded a cryptic Instagram story of Haney and Garcia facing off with the caption “Allegiant Stadium, Sept 5.”

Haney then came out and declared that he would happily run it back with Garcia once he has brushed Romero to one side.

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A disagreement over the monetary side of the deal led to Haney pulling out of negotiations with Romero, raising hopes that he could meet Garcia next.

However, Haney and Garcia are still butting heads over drug testing.

After Garcia tweeted that Haney is ‘terrified’ to face him, Haney responded: “You scared to death to sign up for drug testing.

“I told Turki [Alalshikh] let’s do it. Get you signed up for drug testing.”

Garcia responded: “Devin, I’ll fight you in July! Stop saying drug testing, d*******. Poke me yourself.”

Haney fired back: “He wanna fight in July cause he is still cycling those PEDS. September and start drug testing now.”

Garcia dropped Haney three times and was initially declared the victor via majority decision when they locked horns for the first time in April 2024.

However, Garcia later tested positive for the banned Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM) ostarine and was subsequently banned from the sport for one year.