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 getting disqualified on numerous occasions for his multitude of fouls.

Cruz, 28, scored a knockdown in the first round after hurting Bravo in the first round with a left hook. Bravo wrestled the Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico, native to the canvas, and Thomas ruled it a knockdown.

After Puerto Rico's Bravo was deducted a point in the second and fourth rounds, Cruz took matters into his own hands in the sixth round when he connected with a crushing left hook that dropped Bravo. Taylor’s count reached 10 before Bravo could get back to his feet.