Even Ryan Garcia recognized Thursday that he doesn’t deserve a welterweight title shot.

Why else would the polarizing Garcia have jokingly expressed his undying love for the WBC, a sanctioning organization that ended his suspension simply to take its cut from the star’s seven-figure purse for fighting Mario Barrios? Garcia is more aware than anyone, after all, that he lost his last fight decisively to huge underdog Rolly Romero, was suspended for a year prior to facing him for a failed performance-enhancing drug test, has never won a fight at the welterweight limit and has officially won once in the past 3½ years.

You almost have to commend Garcia (24-2, 20 KOs) for publicly making a mockery of this obvious sanctioning scam. He’ll benefit from it, of course, if he beats Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs) on February 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, because it’ll set up a 147-pound title unification grudge rematch with his rival, newly crowned WBO champ Devin Haney.

“Last but not least, though, I gotta thank the WBC,” a smirking Garcia said during a press conference in Los Angeles. “Yeah, WBC, man, I can’t thank y’all enough, the WBC. I love the WBC. You got no idea how much I love the WBC. I love the WBC. I love the WBC.”

Garcia then brought three cheerleaders on stage, each clad in the WBC’s green and gold colors, and had them hold one-letter signs that spelled out the acronym.

At least Garcia realizes the ridiculousness, or so it seems, of being allowed to skip the line because the WBC knows it’ll make much more money from him vs. Barrios than second-ranked Frenchman Souleymane Cissokho. Nevermind that Cissokho paid sanctioning fees to fight for the silver title in his last two appearances.

The only contender ranked ahead of Cissokho is Conor Benn, who the WBC moved into its top spot after he defeated domestic rival Chris Eubank Jr. in their Nov. 15 rematch and plans to stay a welterweight. That the British star hasn’t fought anywhere near 147 pounds in almost four years apparently doesn’t matter to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.

When asked during a recent interview with The Ring why Garcia got this title shot, Sulaiman essentially explained that the WBC has longstanding relationship with him and that everyone deserves a second chance. Why that trumps any of the disqualifying factors mentioned above is anyone’s guess.

Sulaiman also pointed out that even his harshest critics can’t contend Garcia doesn’t have a legitimate chance to beat Barrios. Though true, that’s hardly the point.

Based on his tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of the WBC on Thursday, even Garcia recognizes this for the shameless money grab that it is.

Critics rightfully ripped Zuffa Boxing after its front man, Dana White, announced Callum Walsh versus Carlos Ocampo as the main event for its premiere event on Paramount+ on Friday night.

Fans were well within reason to expect better than Walsh-Ocampo, particularly when you consider White and others continually mentioned making “50-50 fights” as one of the upstart company’s primary missions. Walsh (15-0, 11 KOs) is a 7-1 favorite over Ocampo, according to DraftKings.

Zuffa Boxing’s cautious approach to matching Walsh is a clear indication, however, that the company’s hierarchy isn’t sure what to make of the Irish southpaw, either. Otherwise, Walsh’s new promoter wouldn’t have settled on an opponent who was knocked out in the first round of a welterweight title bout by Errol Spence almost eight years ago and again by Tim Tszyu five years later in a junior middleweight championship match.

Since Tszyu took him out, Ocampo (38-3, 26 KOs) has knocked out each of his three opponents. They had a combined record of 43-30-1, thus this is the first real fight for Ocampo since June 2023.

The intent, of course, is for Walsh to make a superb Zuffa Boxing debut four months after his unquestionable but unremarkable points victory over Fernando Vargas Jr. (17-1, 15 KOs) on the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford undercard September 13.

By not announcing its Walsh-Ocampo undercard until a week before its inaugural event, and on a Friday night no less, Zuffa Boxing missed an opportunity to appropriately spread the word about it.

While Walsh-Ocampo wasn’t what we were expecting for its first main event, there are competitive, compelling fights before it.

We should learn where unproven prospect Cain Sandoval stands in his 10-round welterweight fight against Julian Rodriguez, who knocked out another 17-0 opponent, Avious Griffin, in the 10th round of his last fight. Mexican middleweight Misael Rodriguez (15-0, 7 KOs) will end almost exactly a one-year layoff in the other fight on the main portion of the stream against Austin Deanda (17-0, 11 KOs).

Deanda, 22, is the first undefeated opponent of Rodriguez’s eight-year career, but he has plenty to prove himself.

Perhaps the most promising prospect on the card — 20-year-old lightweight Robert Meriwether III (9-0, 4 KOs) — will face Carlos Correa (5-0, 4 KOs) in a six-rounder before the stream starts on Paramount+ at 9 p.m. ET.

■ The Raymond Muratalla-Andy Cruz fight Saturday night hasn’t quite received the attention it deserves. Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs), a slight underdog despite that he’ll defend his IBF lightweight title, represents a huge step up in class from the first six opponents Cuba’s Cruz (6-0, 3 KOs) beat before he secured this championship chance. Nonetheless, Cruz, a 2021 Olympic gold medalist, is clearly capable of boxing his way to becoming a world champion in just his seventh professional fight. Their 135-pound championship clash will headline DAZN’s stream from Fontainebleau Las Vegas (8 p.m. ET).

■ If Khalil Coe is to be taken seriously in the light heavyweight division, the Jersey City, New Jersey, native needs to tear through Jesse Hart, 36, in DAZN’s co-feature before Muratalla meets Cruz. Philadelphia’s Hart (31-3, 25 KOs) hasn’t been stopped in his 13-year career, but Coe can make a statement by beating him inside the distance. The inconsistent Coe (10-1-1, 8 KOs) impressively avenged his ninth-round TKO loss to Manuel Gallegos (22-3-1, 19 KOs) in his last bout, but that sixth-round TKO victory didn’t entirely eliminate doubts that stem from his loss and a four-round majority draw with Aaron Casper in his second pro fight four years ago.

■ Props to unknown super middleweight contender Pavel Silyagin (16-0-1, 7 KOs) for accepting a fight against Osleys Iglesias (14-0, 13 KOs) for the vacant IBF super middleweight title. Well-known contenders ranked ahead of the light-punching Russian — namely Canelo Alvarez, Jaime Munguia and Hamzah Sheeraz — wanted no part of fighting Iglesias next. Let’s hope, however, for Silyagin’s sake he’ll be paid reasonably well for what almost assuredly will be a brutal beating against the dangerous Cuban southpaw.