By Jim Maltzman: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya gave words of support for his fighter Ryan Garcia on Saturday following his announcement to his 8.6 million followers on Instagram that he’s withdrawing from his July 9th fight against Javier Fortuna due to personal health reasons.
The young Golden Boy star Ryan says, “I have decided to take some time off to focus on becoming a stronger version of myself.” Just how long that will take is the million-dollar question.
Ryan is one of Golden Boy Promotions’ best fighters, and he moves the needle each time he fights on DAZN. It’s going to be difficult for both Golden Boy and DAZN to replace Ryan if he stays out of action for long.
Ryan, 22, wants time off to get back his “health and wellbeing” before coming back to boxing at an unspecified time. Fortuna (36-2-1, 25 KOs) is hoping to reschedule the fight with Ryan when he does return.
Ryan Garcia doesn’t need to rush back
Going by Ryan’s message, he’s not likely to get back in the ring as soon as Fortuna would like. In that case, Fortuna, 31, will need to have the World Boxing Council select an opponent for him to fight in a lightweight title eliminator.
Ryan Garcia has a net worth of approximately $10 million, according to Celebrity net worth. He’s obviously not in the position of needing to jump back in the ring to support himself the way normal up-and-coming hungry boxers are.
That’s a good thing potentially for Ryan, but bad for Fortuna and for the fans who want to see him back in action.
The health of our fighters is of the utmost importance to us at Golden Boy. We wholeheartedly support Ryan Garcia and wish him the best during this time.
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) April 24, 2021
It’s a great measure from De La Hoya, and hopefully, he’s going to reach out to Ryan and check on him personally. It’s unknown what is going on with him now mentally and physically.
One gets the sense that Ryan isn’t motivated to fight WBC lightweight champion, Devin Haney. He’s made that clear repeatedly.
When Ryan does come back, Golden Boy would be doing him a solid if they moved him in another direction towards a fight with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or Teofimo Lopez if he’s still around by then.
Ryan is bored with the idea of fighting Haney, and it wouldn’t serve any purpose for Golden Boy to keep him on the path to fight him.
Javier Fortuna gives Ryan Garcia words of encouragement
“I wish Ryan Garcia a speedy recovery,” said Fortuna. “There are things more important than fighting and I hope he is able to quickly recover. We can reschedule our fight for a time when I can face and beat a 100% prepared version of Ryan Garcia.”
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