Javier Fortuna paid just enough attention to Ryan Garcia’s return to the ring earlier this year only because of his place as a top lightweight.

It wasn’t a scouting assignment, at least not at the time. Nor was his own fight earlier this year meant to prepare for anything specific—least of all a rescheduled fight with the unbeaten lightweight.

“After my last fight, I didn’t know that the fight with Ryan was going to come back around,” Fortuna admitted to BoxingScene.com. “I took that fight in February just to stay active.

“Honestly, I thought Ryan and Golden Boy forgot all about me. I didn’t expect them to call to reschedule this fight.”

Fortuna’s number was in fact called to revisit plans for a fight with Victorville, California’s Garcia (22-0, 18KOs). The two were due to meet exactly 53 weeks ago, only for Garcia to withdraw to instead battle mental health issues. Fortuna (37-3-1, 26KOs) went on to face former IBF junior lightweight titlist Joseph Diaz Jr., dropping a twelve-round decision last July 9 on DAZN from Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.

Garcia and Fortuna have both returned with wins earlier this year, though at the time without any real plans of revisiting past business. Fortuna returned to his native Dominican Republic, where he claimed a first-round knockout of Rafael Hernandez. The 33-year-old southpaw—who previously held a secondary WBA junior lightweight title—then sat back and awaited word of his next move.

It continued through April 9, when Garcia ended a 15-month ring hiatus with a 12-round, unanimous decision win over Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe (32-2, 15KOs) atop a DAZN show from Alamodome in San Antonio.

Soon, came the phone call from longtime promoter Sampson Lewkowicz that the best assignment he could hope for was back in play. A deal was reached soon thereafter for the fight to land at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (Saturday, DAZN, 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT), barely 15 minutes down the road from their original destination. 

“I was motivated in this training camp knowing that I finally get to fight Ryan Garcia after waiting more than a year for this fight,” noted Fortuna. “I’ve maintained a positive attitude throughout.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox