By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Former world champion Raul “Rayito” Garcia who was scheduled to face Denver Cuello, the No. 1 ranked  minimum weight contender in a final eliminator can’t make the weight according to his promoter Oswaldo Kuchle in an email to Cuello’s promoter/manager Aljoe Jaro.

Kuchle said “I’m sorry Raul Garcia can’t do the weight” and indicated he would request the WBC “to give such opportunity to Saul Juarez who has two straight wins against former world champion Adrian Hernandez.”

However, “Baby” Juarez is not rated in the WBC top ten.

He beat Hernandez fighting as a flyweight scoring an 8th round TKO last May 30 and in a rematch won a ten round split decision after being dropped in the second round.

Juarez lost a unanimous twelve round decision in a light flyweight eliminator to Milan Melindo on November 15, 2014.

When WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman wrote to the camps of both Cuello and Garcia who was ranked No. 2 last July 30 in which the WBC ordered the “free negotiations” for the final eliminator between Cuello and “Rayito” Garcia, Aljoe Jaro offered to stage the fight on September 26 in the Philippines and sent a financial offer to Oswaldo Kuchle who handles Garcia.

Juarez has a record of 22-2 with 12 knockouts.

The Fight Network reported that Juarez again defeated Hernandez by a split decision after Hernandez again suffered a split brow due to an accidental clash of heads also in the final round. It noted  that on May 30 “the fight was surprisingly stopped in the 8th and final round”  due to a clash of heads which left Adrian bleeding.

The report said “the absorbing scrap went the full ten rounds and each and every one was action-packed.”