By Sean Jones: Promoter Oscar De La Hoya sent a shot across the bows of the top lightweights in the division last Saturday night by letting them know if they want to fight the popular Ryan Garcia, the negotiations will be on their terms.
Additionally, De La Hoya said something strange by saying that the champions at 135 need Ryan, but not the other way around.
What De La Hoya is basically saying is the champions at lightweight don’t matter. The only thing that matters is Ryan Garcia’s popularity, which is is superior to the champions at 135.
Ryan is just starting out, and already De La Hoya is putting him above the titles. That’s a bad sign because it suggests Ryan will do what he pleases and the titles don’t matter. Can you imagine other sports conducted like that?
The way De La Hoya is talking, if the lightweight champions Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Devin Haney want to face the contender Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs), they’ll need to let him be the A-side in the negotiations.
While it’s possible to see Haney potentially letting Ryan be A-side, it’s doubtful that Tank Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) will put up with that.
Tank’s promoters at Mayweather Promotions probably won’t agree to let Ryan get the upper hand in the negotiations, considering he’s never won a world title, and he’s still unproven.
De La Hoya letting champions know Ryan will be A-side
“We could see that possibly happen, when we’re ready, when Ryan is ready, and obviously Ryan is ready to face anybody, that’s never a doubt, but it’s going to be on our terms, on the terms of Ryan Garcia,” said De La Hoya to Fighthub.
“It doesn’t mean business. No, when he’s ready, when he wants to. Every champion out there needs Ryan Garcia, it’s not the other way around. He was 6.0,” said De La Hoya in giving Ryan 6 on a 5-scale.
If De La Hoya is looking for an excuse to have Ryan dodge the Tank and Haney fight, he’ll soon be getting one when those fighters fail to let Garcia be the A-side.
It might be a good thing for Ryan to stay away from Tank and Hany for a long, long time because he’s not ready for either of those fighters. It’s not just them, though, that Ryan needs to avoid.
There are at least six to ten lightweights that Ryan Garcia would be at risk of losing to right now, and De La Hoya may need to continue with his A-side talk to put them off trying to fight his guy.
It’s going to look peculiar to the boxing fans if Ryan chooses not to fight Haney, Tank, Teofimo Lopez, and Vasily Lomachenko.
De La Hoya’s A-side blather is going to result in Ryan being boxed out by the top fighters at lightweight, and he’ll be stuck fighting the no-names or the fading guys like he’s been doing.
We just saw Ryan struggle to beat the shopworn 33-year-old Campbell (21-4, 16 KOs) last Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Campbell was advertised as one of the best at 135, but he clearly wasn’t anything of that kind.
Luke was just a fading fighter, who was coming off of a loss to Lomachenko and had been beaten by Jorge Linares and Yvan Mendy as well.
Ryan’s win over Campbell validated him, says, Oscar
“Obviously, I got a little worried, but the fact that he got up right away; It was like a flash knockdown, right?” said De La Hoya to Fighthub on Ryan Garcia getting dropped by Campbell in the second round.
“It was a scary flash knockdown, and he became a man. That’s all there is to it. He became a man tonight.
“He needed this fight for validation, he needed this fight to prove to the boxing world that he belongs in there and he passed with flying colors.”
Oscar sounds like he’s being a tad bit disingenuous by calling the second-round knockdown that Ryan suffered as a “flash knockdown.”
That was nothing of the kind. The shot from Campbell genuinely hurt Ryan. He even admitted after the fight that he was “dizzy” after getting dropped.
De La Hoya has got it wrong with him saying that Ryan’s win over Campbell validated him in the public’s eyes.
If anything, the performance undermined Ryan’s credibility with fans, as the fight showed that he’s not ready for Devin Haney, Tank Davis, or Teofimo Lopez.
Ryan isn’t ready for any of the champions or ex-champions like Vasily Lomachenko and Jorge Linares.
What many boxing fans are asking is why didn’t Campbell try and finish Ryan off after he had him on the canvas and badly hurt in the second round?
Only Campbell knows why he didn’t try and finish Ryan after he got hurt, but it shows you why he’s not an A-level fighter.
The elite-level fighters always go for the kills when they have an opponent hurt. The B and Clevel fighters fail to do that because they lack the confidence and the ring IQ.
It’s lucky for Ryan to face Campbell last Saturday night rather than someone like Lomachenko, Teofimo, or Tank. They would have finished him off right away and ended the hype train.
De La Hoya’s spin on Ryan’s knockdown
“He did what every great champion does; get right back up, especially from a vicious right hook,” continued De La Hoya in whitewashing the knockdown that Ryan suffered in the second round.
“I don’t think many good fighters would get up from that vicious right hook. A+, he did what he had to do, and he took his time,” De La Hoya said in giving Ryan Garcia an ‘A+’ grade for his performance against Campbell.
“He went after him in the prior round, and people went crazy, and that’s the making of a superstar.
“I’m going to sit down with Ryan’s team because I want to make the best fights possible for Ryan Garcia and the fans,” said De La Hoya when asked if Ryan will use his mandatory status with the WBC to challenge the world champion Devin Haney next.
It was odd to see the big deal made over Ryan’s life and death struggle to beat Campbell last Saturday.
This wasn’t even a legitimate title fight, and yet Ryan was celebrated as if he’d captured a world title. The WBC interim lightweight belt is a trinket belt and not the real thing.
As I mentioned, the performance wasn’t a good enough one for Ryan to be celebrating. Gosh, the way Ryan fought showed how far away he is from the top fighters.
You can’t look at that fight and think that Ryan will have any chance of beating Tank Davis, Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, or even Vasily Lomachenko.