Promoter and founder of Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya has been very assertive in insisting to get the lion’s share of the credit when it comes to making the big Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia bout this coming April 22.
The former six-division world champion spent a good amount of time issuing dubious (and maybe empty) ultimatums in the lead-up to signing the bout and he’s been vocal about taking credit for getting the fight made since the signing.
But it’s easy to get the first and last word when you’re pretty much the only one talking. And, yeah, “The Golden Boy” has essentially been the only voice sounding off to the public all throughout the Davis-Garcia pre-signing process and for much of the post-signing talk.
So, it should come as no surprise that he remains in the news, chatting up his fighter, Garcia, and patting himself on the back for making the fight happen.
“Ryan might need a bat for Gervonta, but Gervonta is going to need a catcher’s mask and a bodysuit because Ryan is going to come after him hard. It’s going to be a dogfight,” De Hoya recently told Fighthype.com.
“Everybody is excited. You saw the way it sold out, but then you have the secondary market,” he continued. “I’ve never heard of 50,000 dollars for a ringside seat. That’s more than Canelo’s fights, that’s more than my fights, and more than Mayweather’s fights. It’s big, man.
De La Hoya waxed poetic about his fighter’s bravery in conceding to all demands reportedly coming from the Davis side of the table, including a rehydration clause that prohibits Garcia from exceeding 146 lbs. for the second weigh-in on the morning of the fight.
“It was ‘take it or leave it,” De La Hoya said.
“Ryan wanted this fight so bad, so we had to make concessions. We finally got it done. We weren’t going to go back and forth. It was going to be, ‘Let’s get this done and make concessions.’ That’s about it.”
Then, of course, De La Hoya would give himself and his promotional company all the credit for saving dying Davis-Garcia talks while talking himself up as a shrewd business man and for-the-fans promoter.
“It actually was in trouble and, you know, I’m proud to say that Golden Boy are the ones who revived it,” De La Hoya told reporters in a separate interview. “So, we took it to the finish line and we’re very proud of that. So, the fact that Ryan wanted it, the fact that we revived it, just goes to show you that we’ve always wanted to work with all the promoters. We’ve always wanted to work with the very best to make these fights happen. That’s all we want is to make the best fights happen.”
“You know, you have to respect Ryan Garcia for it,” De La Hoya added. “It’s unheard of to give so many concessions up, but that’s how badly he wanted it. That’s how motivated he is to win this fight April 22nd.
“It’s a perfect testament to what we wanna get done here, not only for this fight, but for the sport in general. We wanna make sure the big fights happen for boxing.”
Again, it’s easy to get the first and last word when you’re pretty much the only one talking. Because Gervonta Davis and his PBC team are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to speaking to the press, De La Hoya was able to guide the public discourse and narrative to a great degree. Realistically, though, nobody other than the parties directly involved in the negotiations process know how much credit members of the fighters’ teams deserve.
But, whatever, we’re getting Gervonta vs. Ryan, so who cares who gets the credit for making it happen? Well, Oscar obviously does.
