Ryan Garcia wants Fighter of the Year, and three wins in ten months would give him a case. But the December opponent matters. If Ryan fights Isaac Cruz, he takes on a man who will come after his body and make him fight for every bit of space. If he picks Angel Fierro, a former sparring partner already stopped by Oscar Duarte, the award talk starts to sound a little rich.

“I am trying to get this fight done for the year,” Ryan said of his December plans. “I am on the hunt. December, I am throwing hands. Then right to May.”

Ryan beat Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight title in February and stopped Conor Benn in two rounds this month. That is more activity than we get from plenty of champions. But Barrios spent much of their fight backing away, while Benn looked miserable at welterweight and had no answer once Ryan began catching him. Those wins count. They also leave room for a better one.

Cruz would give him that chance. Pitbull has just beaten Nestor Bravo, called Ryan out, and said he wants the fight in December. He is short, compact, and happiest when he can get beneath a taller opponent’s punches to work the ribs. Ryan would have to keep catching him on the way in, then fight to get his space back whenever Cruz made it through.

That is where this matchup gets interesting. Ryan can hurt Cruz with the left hook. Pitbull cannot simply march forward and assume he will reach the body. But Ryan has shown how uncomfortable he can become when an opponent attacks him downstairs. Gervonta Davis ended their fight with a body shot, and Cruz would spend the night looking for openings in the same area.

Fierro would ask fewer questions. Ryan knows him from sparring, and Duarte has already knocked him out. That does not guarantee an easy night, but it is hard to sell Fierro as the fight that completes a Fighter of the Year campaign. Ryan could win, collect his third appearance, and head into May with his bigger plans intact. Fans would understand the choice. They would also understand what he had passed up.

Cruz comes with a catch: he fights at light welterweight. If Ryan brings him to 147, critics will say he beat a smaller man, and they will have a fair point. Cruz’s pressure would still make this a much more revealing fight than Fierro. He would have to survive Ryan’s speed to get inside, while Ryan would have to show he can handle the work once Pitbull gets there.

There is also a cost to choosing Cruz that won’t show on the result. A hard fight can leave Ryan cut, bruised or needing more time before May, even if he wins. Fierro is the cleaner business choice when another major date is already on his mind. That is precisely why Cruz would mean more.

Ryan has put himself in the Fighter of the Year conversation. Now he has a December opening and two very different ways to fill it. Beating Fierro would give him three wins. Beating Cruz would give voters a better reason to care about the third.

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