Shawn Porter has assessed Issac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz’s chances of defeating Ryan Garcia, who called the Mexican out following his second-round stoppage of Conor Benn.
It was a short night at the office for the American, who floored Benn with a crushing right hand and retained his WBC title last month.
Prior to that, Garcia had become a world welterweight champion by dethroning Mario Barrios in February, landing that title shot despite losing a unanimous decision to Rolando Romero in May 2025.
Back then, ‘King Ry’ had just completed a year-long doping ban but was nonetheless considered a sizable favourite, perhaps because he edged a majority decision against Devin Haney before their April 2024 encounter was ruled a no-contest.
For whatever reason, Garcia then ended up producing a lacklustre performance against Romero but, since then, has shown signs of improvement against Barrios and Benn.
Cruz, meanwhile, is coming off a sixth-round knockout over Nestor Bravo and, in doing so, maintained his status as a tenacious super-lightweight contender.
At 147lbs, however, former two-time world champion Porter has suggested on his podcast that Pitbull would strip himself of any physical advantages.
“I think it would be a huge surprise if Pitbull were to come up to 147[lbs] and really challenge Ryan Garcia. The Ryan that we’ve seen lately [against Barrios and Benn] … we saw the speed, the power, the agility [and] the talent that we hadn’t seen [previously].
“I think he’s maturing into his prime, and that’s who he’s going to be [from now on] – he’s going to be jab-first, very quick with that straight right hand, some power with that right hand as well, and winging that [left] hook like he’s always done.
“To me, that is a lot for Pitbull Cruz, who still has not mastered, or even developed, a way of being able to move and punch at the same time.”
Porter went on to highlight other offensive and defensive flaws which, he believes, would contribute to an emphatic defeat against Garcia.
