Joseph "JoJo" Diaz Jr. will defend the WBC interim lightweight title against Ryan Garcia on Nov. 27 in Los Angeles.

ESPN's Mike Coppinger reported both boxers have confirmed the fight, which marks Garcia's return from a break to focus on his mental health.

"I'm excited to be back; I'm ready to continue my momentum where I left off," Garcia said. "I missed the sport of boxing. I missed the ring. I missed sparring."

Garcia won the WBC interim lightweight belt with an impressive knockout victory over Luke Campbell in January, which moved his career record to 21-0.

The 23-year-old California native was scheduled to defend the interim championship against Javier Fortuna in July before pulling out of the bout for mental health reasons.

Diaz (32-1-1), who's also from the Los Angeles area, stepped up to fill the void against Fortuna and won by unanimous decision to take over the interim title.

"L.A. finally has a fight to look forward to," Garcia told Coppinger. "A real fight with two people from L.A. county."

Diaz, 28, told ESPN he's confident he'll retain the belt next month.

"I'm stopping him and ending the hype train once and for all," he said. "I'm gonna take it to him. Everything I've been through in and out the ring will be shown that night. He's finally in with a live dog."

Meanwhile, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said the organization is ready to step in to set up a unification bout between the winner of the Nov. 27 clash and WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney (26-0), who's struggled to secure a bout with the recent interim titleholders.

"If the guy does not want to fight Haney, then the interim title will be vacant," Sulaiman told DAZN's Alexander Netherton. "But now there's only one line: if JoJo Diaz and Garcia fight, the winner is a mandatory for the champion. If either one of the winners does not accept to unify, then we will just have a world champion in Haney."

Haney most recently defended the belt with a win by unanimous decision over Jorge Linares in May.

He'll face the biggest test of his career if a deal with the Garcia-Diaz winner is ultimately finalized.