After Cruz’s sixth-round knockout of Nestor Bravo on Saturday to retain his interim WBC 140-pound title at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, he made a point to call out WBC welterweight champion Garcia.

Garcia, who previously backed Bravo to pull off the upset, said he’d be willing to face Cruz in December during a series of posts on X.

“Hey Ryan, I’m here,“ Cruz said in his post-fight interview. “My next fight for you. Come on Ryan. Come on.”

“Let’s do this in December,” Garcia wrote on X. “The offer is on the table. I can tame a lion. I’m not too concerned about taming a Pitbull.”

Cruz’s knockout of Bravo streamed internationally on DAZN.

Garcia (26-2, 21 KOs, 1 NC) is coming off a second-round stoppage of Conor Benn, where he made his first welterweight title defense on September 12 at Las Vegas' T-Mobile Arena.

The Victorville, California native is The Ring’s No. 2-ranked welterweight. 28-year-old Garcia also said he's made multiple attempts to broker a deal with Cruz, which never came to fruition.

Cruz (29-3-2, 19 KOs) and Bravo (24-2, 17 KOs) engaged in a foul-filled bout that led to referee Thomas Taylor deducting two points from the Puerto Rican. Thomas even warned Bravo, 32, that he was on the brink of disqualification on numerous occasions.

Cruz, 28, scored a first-round knockdown after hurting Bravo with a left hook. Bravo wrestled him to the canvas, and Thomas ruled it a knockdown.

After Bravo was deducted a point in the second and fourth rounds, Cruz took matters into his own hands in the sixth, connecting with a crushing left hook to drop Bravo. Taylor’s count reached 10 before Bravo could get back to his feet.