Ryan Garcia Could Be Well-Positioned for Sebastian Fundora-Errol Spence Winner

The ink hasn’t even stained the contract for Errol Spence Jr.’s October return fight to meet new WBC/WBO junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora in Texas, and already the more significant buzz centers on who that winner will fight afterward.

On Friday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” analysts Paulie Malignaggi and Chris Algieri mentioned how a Spence-Terence Crawford rematch could materialize at 154 pounds should Spence win after Crawford claims the WBA (and likely WBO) titles by defeating champion Israil Madrimov Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.

With former junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu fighting unbeaten elite contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. (21-0, 21 KOs) on that same Aug. 3 card, that winner also makes a strong case for the Spence-Fundora winner.

Yet the most tempting opponent for both former three-belt welterweight champion Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) and California’s Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) is the fighter who has dominated the sport’s headlines for the past month.

Yes, it’s Ryan Garcia.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) has already “called out” both men after failing to make weight for his April 20 WBC lightweight title shot against Devin Haney, the now infamous bout in which Garcia won by split decision after knocking down Haney three times but then submitted two positive tests for the banned performance-enhancing substance ostarine that were confirmed by the “B” samples.

Garcia, in his post-Haney news conference, said he has envisioned moving up in weight and claiming his first world title by defeating the 6-feet-5½ Fundora.

As he tends to do, Garcia proceeded to get into a social media scrap with Spence, saying before the “B” samples arrived that he wanted them to fight.

That pursuit is now paused as he awaits a possible suspension, fine and removal of his victory from the New York State Athletic Commission. Suspension estimates range from the lenient (six months) to the stringent (two years).

BoxingScene has learned that Garcia actually acted on his social media feud with Spence, directing his promoter, Golden Boy, to make a fight with Spence at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where Spence will now fight Fundora.

The urgency of that request has cooled due to Garcia’s legal challenge of his positive tests, but given the attention he has received through the sport’s most riveting drama this year and Garcia’s recent pay-per-view successes, his value rockets past perennial pound-for-pound elite Crawford and the Tszyu-Ortiz winner.

It’s all about how the New York State Athletic Commission disciplines him, particularly in the category of suspension time.

Spence certainly has interest in Garcia, based on his back-and-forth with him, and Fundora’s representatives were so willing to accept the exposure and brand-name boost of the Spence bout that they’re doing so by throwing away the current WBO belt he wears by blowing off mandatory challenger Crawford.

Beating Spence, the Fundora camp says, will be a career launching pad.

To find Garcia waiting next year, following a possible suspension, would mark an even greater leap for the champion with the 80-inch reach.

First things first, Fundora-Spence marks a puzzling match between a fighter who was badly battered last time out (Spence, by Crawford) and a new champion who broke his nose and might have won his March 30 split decision only because his elbow accidentally (and badly) cut Tszyu’s head early in their fight.

“It makes the fight exciting,” Malignaggi said on “Deep Waters.” “You don’t know what version of these guys you’re getting.”

Malignaggi said the promotion will be challenged “because you’re trying to sell them as they’re better than they are now. … At 33, having made money, it’s harder to come back.

“Spence might beat Fundora,” in a competitive scrap, “only to put [himself] in harm’s way for the next fight.”

Spence, 34, actually posted on X on Friday that the Fundora bout might be his final fight.

Yet Spence is a major ticket seller in his home state, and there’s interest in how he’ll fare on the heels of that July 2023 beatdown by Crawford and his split with longtime trainer Derrick James.

And Fundora is intent to prove he possesses a champion’s mettle.

“Fundora deserves credit – controversial as it may be. I don’t think he’d have won [in March] if that cut hadn’t happened,” Malignaggi said. “Seems like a good fight, but lots of question marks, and I think Tszyu and Ortiz beat both of these guys.

“We’ll have that [Fundora-Spence] main event in an [NFL] stadium and Tszyu-Ortiz as a co-main [to Crawford-Madrimov]. Now you understand why boxing is so weird. …”

Algieri responded, “It’s not weird, it’s [about] butts in seats. I want to see the Tszyu-Ortiz winner fight Spence – assuming he wins. That’s an all-action fight, an exciting, meet-in-the-center-of-the-ring fight. The future of the division is Tszyu-Ortiz.”

Yet the present of boxing is Ryan Garcia.

So expect the Fundora-Spence winner to follow the money.