Garcia ordered to face Postol after Peterson bout

Feb

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Although RING junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia has been approved for a 143-pound, non-title, catchweight bout on April 11 opposite RING No. 2-rated IBF titleholder Lamont Peterson, he must next face WBC mandatory contender Viktor Postol, the organization announced on Monday.

In addition, the winner of Garcia-Postol must fight RING No. 1-rated 140-pounder Lucas Matthysse, who lost a unanimous decision to Garcia in Sept. 2013.

THE RING’s No. 7-rated junior welterweight, Postol accepted a step-aside deal in October, allowing him and Garcia to take one fight within the ensuing four months. Part of that deal was that Postol would fight on Garcia’s next undercard, according to Postol’s manager, Vadim Kornilov.

Garcia-Peterson was announced last month as part of NBC’s new boxing series titled “Premier Boxing Champions” (“PBC on NBC”), thanks to a multi-year agreement between the network and adviser Al Haymon. The card is likely headed for Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Peterson, who was knocked out by Matthysse in the third round of a non-title fight in May 2013, represents Garcia’s second consecutive non-title bout, following his second round knockout of Rod Salka in August. Garcia also holds the WBA belt.

Postol is coming off an 11th-round knockout of Selcuk Aydin last May. The HBO-televised bout was a WBC title eliminator bout for the right to face Garcia.

In the meantime, talks are ongoing for a bout between Matthysse and Ruslan Provodnikov on March 28 at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., according to Provodnikov’s promoter, Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions.