NEW YORK — While Ryan Garcia may be calling out Isaac Cruz, the junior welterweight known as “Pitbull” first has to deal with Jose Valenzuela on August 3.

The 25-year-old from Mexico City tells The Ring that he heard when Garcia mentioned his name at the post-fight press conference following his upset majority decision win over Devin Haney in Brooklyn, N.Y. Cruz, who holds the WBA title at junior welterweight, was critical of Garcia’s unwillingness to cut the final 3.2 pounds on the scale, making him ineligible to win Haney’s WBC 140-pound title, but says he would welcome a fight with the Golden Boy Promotions aligned fighter.

“It’s not the first time. There was a lot of times that he says he wants to fight. I’m ready and I want to fight him,” said Cruz (26-2-1, 18 KOs) through an interpreter regarding Garcia’s challenge.

“Ryan Garcia doesn’t take all the things seriously. Even when he goes to the weigh-in and he doesn’t lose these three pounds. He doesn’t take anything seriously. He needs to be more focused on the training and needs to be more serious.”

Before that mega-money fight can be made, Cruz has to get past Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela, whom he will face at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on the undercard of the Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov fight, which will be the first “Riyadh Season” card in America, with Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority, bringing unity among various promotions to bring this event to fruition.

Valenzuela (13-2, 9 KOs) of Los Mochis, Mexico by way of Renton, Wash. is coming off a sixth round knockout over Chris Colbert last December, avenging a decision loss to the New York fighter eight months prior. The 24-year-old Valenzuela is moving up five pounds to face Cruz, and will be the first southpaw that Cruz will have faced since struggling to a split decision win over Giovanni Cabrera last July in Las Vegas.

Still, Cruz thinks the style matchup is one that benefits him.

“It will be an entertaining fight because Rayo’s style is moving forward to fight. This style is very good for me and I think that this will be entertaining,” said the MP Promotions fighter Cruz, who is coming off a punishing eighth round stoppage win over Rolando Romero less than a month ago.

Valenzuela, who has a six-inch height advantage over the 5’4″ Cruz, says he was originally preparing for a rematch with Edwin De Los Santos, who had knocked him out in three rounds in September of 2022, when the offer came in to face Cruz. He says he has been sparring with Oscar Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs), a Mexican fighter with a similar style to Cruz, and says he accepted the Cruz fight without any hesitation.

“It was a big opportunity that presented itself. It’s been in my mind to become a world champion and I took it, no questions asked,” said Valenzuela, who is trained by Mario Rodriguez and Robert Garcia.

“It’s my debut at 140, I’ve been feeling great though, of course I got the height for 140. In the gym I’ve been feeling more powerful, I feel more energized in the workout so I think it was the move that I needed that I didn’t know I needed. I think August 3 it’s gonna show.”

Valenzuela says it isn’t lost on him how well Cabrera, who has the same stance and a similar build to himself, looked in his fight with Cruz, and says that styles will play a big part in the fight.

“It’s no secret what he does, I feel I will match up real well with him, I think it’s a fight that could be fight of the year, I’m lefty, I’m long, I’m strong, I’m fast so it’s gonna be a great matchup,” said Valenzuela.

“Styles make fights. You got Rolly, who is very wild and just looks for power shots. Also he doesn’t really move around nicely in the ring, he jumps, so that fatigues a fighter. We’re gonna do things precisely and well-done.”

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].