WBC Prez: Mikey Garcia, Jorge Linares Must Fight Each Other

World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman has indicated that he won't approve any further postponements, stating that WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30 KOs) must make a mandatory defense against Jorge Linares (43-3, 27 KOs).

Last year at their annual convention, the WBC ordered the two of them to fight each other.

Linares, who holds the WBA world title at the weight, is the mandatory challenger to Garcia's belt because of his status as the WBC's Diamond champion.

Garcia met with Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez in an attempt to reach an agreement for the Linares fight.

The meeting went well, but Garcia received another offer for a Showtime televised fight that was even better than the 50-50 proposal from Golden Boy to face Linares.

That Showtime deal was finalized, with Garcia moving up to 140-pounds to challenge IBF junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets on February 10th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Should Garcia win, he will have to make a decision on whether or not to remain at 140 or return back to 135 for a fight with Linares. 

"Champion Mikey Garcia received special permission to fight over the weight in February in a WBC special event. WBC diamond champion Jorge Linares will defend his championship in January. Both champions will fight each other immediately after their bouts," Sulaiman said.

Garcia started off 2017 with a vicious knockout of Dejan Zlaticanin to capture the WBC title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He came back in July, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with a dominating performance over former four division world champion Adrien Broner. The fight with Broner took also place at the junior welterweight limit of 140-pounds.

Linares is also scheduled to fight in the coming weeks. He will make a voluntary defense against once-beaten Mercito Gesta on January 27th in an HBO televised fight from The Forum in Los Angeles, California.