Danny Garcia vs. Brandon Rios is Now WBC Final Eliminator

[Ruthless-RKO]

According to World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, the sanctioning body has approved Garcia vs. Rios as a final eliminator for a mandatory world title shot.

At the moment, the WBC welterweight champion is Keith Thurman and he is scheduled to make a voluntary defense on a date in April, potentially against former champion Jessie Vargas.
The mandatory challenger is Shawn Porter, who knocked out Andre Berto in a final eliminator last year.

Porter will get the first mandatory crack at Thurman, and then the Garcia-Rios will get the second crack. The WBC had actually wanted Porter and Garcia to fight in a final eliminator last year, but there was very little interest from Garcia's camp.

"Champion Keith Thurman will return in a voluntary title defense, as he has recovered from his injury. Shawn Porter is the mandatory challenger, and Danny Garcia will fight Brandon Rios in a final elimination bout for the second mandatory due to the inactivity of Thurman," Sulaiman said.

[Ruthless-RKO]

This make shít sense!

Already ordering a mandatory again.. 'due to inactivity' they're just ordering rematches..

Thurman has a voluntary in Spring.. then Porter in late 2018.. Porter said the next time he fights will be vs. Thurman. So he won't fight again until late this year? IMO, he needs to stay busy. He doesn't want to be rusty when his shot comes..

[Enlightened-One]

According to World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, the sanctioning body has approved Garcia vs. Rios as a final eliminator for a mandatory world title shot.

At the moment, the WBC welterweight champion is Keith Thurman and he is scheduled to make a voluntary defense on a date in April, potentially against former champion Jessie Vargas.
The mandatory challenger is Shawn Porter, who knocked out Andre Berto in a final eliminator last year.

Porter will get the first mandatory crack at Thurman, and then the Garcia-Rios will get the second crack. The WBC had actually wanted Porter and Garcia to fight in a final eliminator last year, but there was very little interest from Garcia's camp.

"Champion Keith Thurman will return in a voluntary title defense, as he has recovered from his injury. Shawn Porter is the mandatory challenger, and Danny Garcia will fight Brandon Rios in a final elimination bout for the second mandatory due to the inactivity of Thurman," Sulaiman said.

Well we shouldn’t expect to see Keith Thurman face the likes of Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford until the second half of 2019, because after engaging in a relatively “easy” voluntary title defence, it’s very likely that he’ll be engaging in rematches against his two most recent opponents (Porter and Garcia).

I’ve got a funny feeling that the biggest fight at 147lbs to be made during 2018 will be Thurman-Porter II, closely followed by Horn-Crawford, which would be a tad disappointing.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Well we shouldn’t expect to see Keith Thurman face the likes of Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford until the second half of 2019, because after engaging in a relatively “easy” voluntary title defence, it’s very likely that he’ll be engaging in rematches against his two most recent opponents (Porter and Garcia).

I’ve got a funny feeling that the biggest fight at 147lbs to be made during 2018 will be Thurman-Porter II, closely followed by Horn-Crawford, which would be a tad disappointing.

So many other fights out there. Don't need to see rematches just yet. His last few opponents will read:

Porter
Garcia
(Voluntary)
Porter
(Likely voluntary)
Garcia

Unless Garcia goes down a different route despite a win.

WBC should shuffle their rankings a little.

[Enlightened-One]

Well we shouldn’t expect to see Keith Thurman face the likes of Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford until the second half of 2019, because after engaging in a relatively “easy” voluntary title defence, it’s very likely that he’ll be engaging in rematches against his two most recent opponents (Porter and Garcia).

I’ve got a funny feeling that the biggest fight at 147lbs to be made during 2018 will be Thurman-Porter II, closely followed by Horn-Crawford, which would be a tad disappointing.

So many other fights out there. Don't need to see rematches just yet. His last few opponents will read:

Porter
Garcia
(Voluntary)
Porter
(Likely voluntary)
Garcia

Unless Garcia goes down a different route despite a win.

WBC should shuffle their rankings a little.

This is one of those few occasions where I can wholly appreciate the challenge faced by the WBC, because Keith Thurman’s last two bouts against Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia were highly competitive affairs where the scorecards were incredibly close.

And if Thurman ends-up facing Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia again, it means that both of these opponents would have earned their opportunities via emerging victorious from participating in WBC title eliminators.

Also, ESPN & The Ring both consider Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia top-five welterweights, so no one can really harshly criticise the calibre of these rematches.

Terence Crawford is committed to challenging for Jeff Horn’s WBO title, Kell Brook has made the jump to 154lbs and the WBC might struggle to justify allowing Keith Thurman to participate in a title unification bout against Errol Spence Jr., because ‘One Time’ hasn’t performed a mandatory defence of his belt for such a ‘Long Time’.

The alternative is that the WBC elevates weaker opposition above Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia in the rankings, which isn’t ideal.

I’m not sure if 2018 is going to be such a good year for the 147lbs division.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Also, ESPN & The Ring both consider Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia top-five welterweights, so no one can really harshly criticise the calibre of these rematches.

Terence Crawford is committed to challenging for Jeff Horn’s WBO title, Kell Brook has made the jump to 154lbs and the WBC might struggle to justify allowing Keith Thurman to participate in a title unification bout against Errol Spence Jr., because ‘One Time’ hasn’t performed a mandatory defence of his belt for such a ‘Long Time’.

I’m not sure if 2018 is going to be such a good year for the 147lbs division.

I'm most definitely not against Thurman fighting high caliber opponents.

[Badhusker]

Also, ESPN & The Ring both consider Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia top-five welterweights, so no one can really harshly criticise the calibre of these rematches.

Terence Crawford is committed to challenging for Jeff Horn’s WBO title, Kell Brook has made the jump to 154lbs and the WBC might struggle to justify allowing Keith Thurman to participate in a title unification bout against Errol Spence Jr., because ‘One Time’ hasn’t performed a mandatory defence of his belt for such a ‘Long Time’.

I’m not sure if 2018 is going to be such a good year for the 147lbs division.

I'm most definitely not against Thurman fighting high caliber opponents.

Thurman knows that Porter and Garcia, although tough challenges, will be easier fights than if he faced Spence or Crawford for unification fights. You can bet he won't fight Spence or Crawford until 2019 at the earliest.
Both Porter and Garcia didn't want the Spence fight, so props to Lamont Peterson for taking the challenge. Peterson is no slouch, and seems to push everyone. Only had one bad bout vs Matthysse. He definitely has some elite skills. I think the first half of the fight will be very close.

[Enlightened-One]

Both Porter and Garcia didn't want the Spence fight

Were Porter and Garcia offered the opportunity to face Errol Spence Jr. and can you prove they declined it?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Both Porter and Garcia didn't want the Spence fight

Were Porter and Garcia offered the opportunity to face Errol Spence Jr. and can you prove they declined it?

I don't think it had ever been mentioned.

[Enlightened-One]

Both Porter and Garcia didn't want the Spence fight

Were Porter and Garcia offered the opportunity to face Errol Spence Jr. and can you prove they declined it?

I don't think it had ever been mentioned.

I was actually hoping that ‘Badhusker’ had shared a valuable nugget of information to the forum, but instead he might have posted another lazy árséd derogatory statement that fails to reflect reality (assuming he can't back-up his claim). I hope it's the former rather than the latter, because no one should be wrong about things that often. Let's see what he can prove.

[SenorPipino]

Scary to realize that Brandon Rios, who really hasn't done squat since his lightweight days 6 years ago, is just a Danny Garcia eye cut away from securing a welterweight title shot.

Team Rios has some good connections.

[Datsue]

Team Rios has some good connections.

Your statement makes no sense.

For a start, who is "Team Rios" these days? Roberto Garcia said he should retire, wouldn't train him & wouldn't have him in his gym. That was years ago.

For another, the man can barely string a sentence together,

I think a more accurate assessment might be "Rios's brain is unlucky that Haymon is willing to feed him to Garcia for an easy payday".

[Badhusker]

I guess Spence is the new boogyman.

Garcia back in the summer of 2016 said he wouldn't fight Spence until he had proved himself, then turned around and fought a guy that Spence had already KO'd. He could have fought Spence now instead of Rios for a belt instead of an eliminator. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he doesn't want to fight Spence. He should be honest and just say he wants a tune up. Porter called out Garcia too but got no response.

Porter is a guy I thought will fight anyone, but he proved me wrong. He also could have fought Spence but decided to go a different direction, and fight Granandos. He took the WBC route instead of challenging Spence for his belt. He said he is about 3 years past the IBF route, and wants to wait for Thurman for another crack at that belt. In the meantime he called Garcia out, but I guess that is ok instead because it is the WBC route. Make sense to anyone?

Thurman has even said he won't fight Spence because he needs a tune-up, has mandatories, etc probably until at least 2019. He knows he could fight a unification bout this year instead of a mandatory, or at least ask for it, but he won't.

Once Crawford gets a belt, these guys won't be able to hide anymore. We may see Spence vs Crawford sooner than later.

[Blodhemn]

Once Crawford gets a belt, these guys won't be able to hide anymore. We may see Spence vs Crawford sooner than later.

The only thing worthwhile the division has to offer - a new guy putting these horribly inactive wastes of space on notice. Crawford-Spence is the only fight I'd watch in that weight class. The others are well past their due date.