By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya will be meeting this week with Ryan Garcia to present a plan to him that he believes will lead to him becoming a superstar in the sport.
Without going into specifics about his plan for the unbeaten lightweight contender Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs), De La Hoya says they have to be “smart” with the direction they take in his career.
Oscar maintains that the 22-year-old Ryan is ready for anyone, but he’s not naming names as of yet. Ryan’s last opponent, Luke Campbell, was able to shockingly knock him down in the second round of their fight on January 2nd.
That fight exposed Ryan as NOT being ready for everyone at 135. In fact, the performance by Ryan showed that he could have massive trouble if matched against the top five in the division.
Anyone with power at lightweight could be a problem for Ryan right now unless he works with his new trainer Eddy Reynoso to improve his defense.
De La Hoya to meet with Ryan Garcia this week
“We have something very special in line for Ryan [Garcia],” said De La Hoya to DAZN about King Ryan’s future.
“I’m sitting down with him next week, and we’re going to present him a plan that is going to take him to that world title status that will take him to superstardom.
“We’re excited about Ryan, he’s the real deal. He got dropped in the first round [2nd round against Luke Campbell], and came back and demonstrated what he’s all about.
We’re hearing rumors of Ryan Garcia being taken on a world tour of several different countries for his next few fights.
If that rumor is true, it’s not likely that he’s going to fight the dangerous guys that he needs to at lightweight for him to become a star.
The elite 135-pounders:
- Teofimo Lopez – U.S
- Devin Haney – U.S
- Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis – U.S
- Vasily Lomachenko – Ukraine
It would seem that if Ryan Garcia is going to be put on a world tour, he won’t be fighting any of those guys unless De Hoya wants to throw him in with Lomachenko.
I’m not holding my breath on that happening in this lifetime. I’m predicting now that Ryan Garcia will NEVER fight Lomachenko in his career.
Oscar wants to be smart in matching King Ryan
“Ryan is in a very unique position,” said De La Hoya. “All the world champions are calling him out instead of him calling out all the world champions.
“He’s in a very, very unique position. He just have to be very smart in how we plan out his career because I don’t think there’s any other fighter out there that is demanding what he’s demanding from these world champions.
“We strongly feel that Ryan is ready for anybody. He has the talent, he has the pedigree, he has the work ethic and he has a great corner. The skies the limit,” said De La Hoya on Ryan Garcia.
Obviously, Ryan isn’t ready “for anybody.” We saw that in his flawed performance against Luke Campbell that he’s not ready for the A or the B+ level fighters, and it’s unclear when he ever will.
The reason why the champions at 135 are so interested in fighting Ryan is that he’s got such a huge following on social media, not because of how talented he is or how much he’s accomplished in the sport.
Ryan still hasn’t fought anyone of talent during his five-year professional career, and if he does, it might end badly for him unless his opponent is carefully chosen.
De La Hoya says Vergil Ortiz Jr ready for Crawford
“I think Vergil is ready for the very best, and the very best is right here in the arena, Terence Crawford,” said De La Hoya’s plans to try and put a fight together between Ortiz Jr and Crawford.
“I promote the way I fought. You have to fight the best in order to beat the best. That’s Vergil’s secret is that he continues to fight the top, top guys.
“He’s knocking them out. Why not go after the very best? Crawford is the very best pound-for-pound champion in the world today.
“He’s very gifted, very talented. I think it’ll be a terrific fight,” said De La Hoya.
Oscar might think Vergil is ready for Terence Crawford, but that doesn’t look like it’s a fight that is going to happen. Crawford said last Saturday that Vergil isn’t ready to fight him, and he’s got to earn the fight.
What De La Hoya needs to do is get some more fights under Vergil’s belt against quality welterweights, and not just guys who have just moved up in weight like Maurice Hooker.
De Hoya needs to put Vergil against Jaron Ennis, Sergey Lipinets, and Shawn Porter. Beating those guys will give Ortiz Jr the experience he needs to tackle Crawford.
Oscar talks comeback
“Look, if people want to see me fight again, I’ll leave it up to them,” said Oscar. “Against the very best. Of course,” said De La Hoya when asked if his plan is to make a comeback against the “very best.”
“I always fought the very best, why not do it again? No, no, let’s go for the best,” said De La Hoya in ruling out an exhibition fight.
“I wouldn’t fight Crawford, he’s too good. There’s a lot of good fighters out there, so I have to wait and see. I actually just started sparring the other day. I had forgotten how good I was. I surprised myself,” said De La Hoya.
The fight that De La Hoya should be trying to get is an exhibition match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Fans would like to see an old-timers exhibition rematch between Oscar and Mayweather.
If De La Hoya tries to take on one of the best, as he’s peaking about, he’ll get beaten up against pretty much anyone in the sport. He’s been out of boxing for too many years, and he’s looking like a middle-aged person. When you get to that point, you’re not going to beat a top fighter or even a contender.