Hall of Fame trainer and analyst Teddy Atlas would favour one man in a “big way” if Ryan Garcia ends up facing Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz.

The American successfully defended his WBC title earlier this month, flooring Conor Benn with a right hand and ultimately stopping his man in round two.

In doing so, Garcia retained his status as a world welterweight champion after dethroning Mario Barrios with a unanimous decision victory in February.

Prior to that, he looked far less impressive while getting outpointed by Rolando Romero, with his second professional defeat arriving at the completion of a year-long doping ban.

Based on his latest performance, however, Garcia appears to be fighting with supreme confidence as he targets another outing in 2026.

Standing in the opposite corner, he hopes, will be super-lightweight contender Cruz, who scored a sixth-round knockout over Nestor Bravo last weekend.

For all the Mexican’s strength and tenacity, though, Atlas has said on his YouTube channel that Garcia – who is around 6in taller – would surely punish Pitbull with his long-range attacks.

“With [Garcia’s] style on the outside and the sharpness of [his] punches – the right hand and the left hook – he’s going to have a lot of chances to catch [Cruz] just like he caught Benn.

“Cruz has a good chin – he’s a gutsy guy. And he’s a little more clever than he might have looked [against Bravo]. He’ll move his head, he’ll do certain things … he can even use his jab, at times.

“But, at the end of the day, you gotta favour Garcia in a big way. Is it a step too far [for Cruz] as far as size [is concerned]?”

While having campaigned at 140lbs for his last six fights, Cruz is, indeed, a much naturally smaller man than Garcia, who appears to have found an appropriate home at 147lbs.

Tim Bradley has accused Shakur Stevenson of avoiding a world champion and, instead, pursuing a much easier fight against Manny Pacquiao.

Indeed, the 47-year-old Pacquiao is a far cry from his former self, despite battling to a draw against then-WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios in July 2025.

In doing so, the Filipino legend proved he can still compete to a certain extent but, more than likely, would fall drastically short against a truly elite-level fighter.

Most would therefore consider him an almighty underdog against Stevenson, who became a four-division world champion by dethroning Teofimo Lopez in January.

Several months later, the American ended up signing with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, but is yet to announce a date, location or opponent for his next outing.

According to various reports, however, Stevenson is now angling to face Pacquiao on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Reacting to this potential showdown for December 11, Hall of Famer Bradley said on his YouTube channel that, like Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Stevenson is starting to become overly selective with his opponents.

“This whole generation [of fighters is] straight up soft. I’m thinking you [Stevenson is] growing some big balls – you want to face [WBA world super-lightweight] Gary Antuanne Russell.

“Yeah, you can beat him. But guess what? You want to fight him at 135 or 132[lbs]probably. You not willing to leap out and test your damn self.

“You used to talk so much trash about Tank, but you’re turning right into Tank Davis. This dude is literally trying to make a fight happen just with Manny Pacquiao. Nobody likes this s**t – Manny Pacquiao [is] way over the damn hill.”

Bradley went on to say that Pacquiao is no longer a mainstream attraction, probably doing under 200 thousand pay-per-view buys when he fought Barrios, while Stevenson just sees this as a shot at “free money”.

The stakes have now been raised ahead of the blockbuster Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua showdown.

It was finally officially confirmed today that the two men will meet at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Friday 11 December, with the event broadcast live on Netflix.

It sees the British stars collide having first been linked to a battle with one another over a decade ago, when they both held versions of the world heavyweight title.

It’s been several years since both men were world champions, with Fury losing his WBC heavyweight title to Oleksandr Usyk back in May 2024while Joshua also lost his unified WBA, IBF and WBO belts against the Ukrainian back in September 2021.

Usyk went on to become undisputed heavyweight champion but no longer holds any of the belts after vacating his remaining titles earlier this year, and it seems that Fury and Joshua are going to benefit from that decision.

That is because it has been reported by The Ring’s Mike Coppinger that the vacant WBA ‘Super’ title is set to be on the line in the Fury vs. Joshua fight.

“Breaking: Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will fight for the WBA ‘super’ heavyweight title, @ringmagazine has learned. Fury and AJ will both be looking to regain a heavyweight title. Usyk remains The Ring champ while Murat Gassiev is the current holder of the WBA’s ‘regular’ heavyweight title.”

Murat Gassiev became WBA Regular champion with a knockout win over Kubrat Pulev in December, before making a defence of that title against Peter Kadiru in July.

It was initially believed that the WBA had elevated him to full champion after Usyk vacated the belt, but it appears Gassiev will now have to play second fiddle to the Fury vs. Joshua victor.