By Sean Jones: Oscar De La Hoya says he will wait until the first quarter of 2022 before making the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Ryan Garcia mega-fight.
De La Hoya says he wants to let Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) have more time to return from his recent problem outside the ring. He doesn’t want to rush him into a fight with him coming back.
Also, Oscar says his sources have told him that Tank Davis’s recent fight against former WBA ‘regular’ 140-lb champion Mario Barrios did 90,000 pay-per-views on Showtime.
Needless to say, those PPV numbers are far below the 200,000+ that were revealed earlier this week by Mike Coppinger for the Davis vs. Barrios fight. It looks like somebody inflated the numbers in coming up with that figure.
De La Hoya wants Gervonta (25-0, 24 KOs) to increase his popularity this year before he makes the Ryan Garcia fight with him early next year.
Gervonta revealed this week that he plans on fighting in October against an opponent still to be determined. It’s likely to be one of the Mayweather Promotions or PBC fighters Tank Davis fights.
If Floyd Mayweather Jr is thinking about Tank’s future, he needs to pick the best possible guy that will make noise. Chris Colbert or Gary Russell Jr would be great.
Gervonta vs. Barrios did 90K buys, says De La Hoya
“I love Gervonta Davis; he’s a real fighter and a guy that loves to fight everybody and anybody,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype. “He has something special, which I admire.
“I think he [Gervonta] has the ability to unify at 135. 140, it’s borderline. He can lose to any champion at 140, or he can win. It’s kind of 50-50, but at 135, I think he can beat anybody.
“It all depends,” said De La Hoya when asked if it’s time to pull the trigger on the Ryan Garcia vs. Gervonta Davis fight.
“Look, I know for a fact that Gervonta’s fight [with Mario Barrios], from my sources, did maybe 50,000 pay-per-view homes and about 40,000 digital.
“You combine that, that’s about 90,000 pay-per-views,” said De La Hoya about the PPV numbers for Gervonta Davis vs. Barrios.
Those PPV numbers are not good for Tank Davis vs. Mario Barrios, particularly how Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe bragged about how Gervonta is the new pay-per-view star.
At least Terence Crawford hit 150,000 buys for his fight with Amir Khan, and those were considered dreadful.
If Mayweather continues to insist on sticking Tank Davis’s fights on PPV, he’ll have to pay his opponents very little.
After Tank gets his purse from the 90K buys, there won’t be much left over to pay for his opponents and the undercard fighters. To get those PPV numbers up, Mayweather Promotions will need to start matching Tank Davis against fighters that the boxing public wants to see.
It’s not cutting it for them to be matching Tank against guys like little-known Barrios, shopworn Leo Santa Cruz, 39-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Ricardo Nunez.
Gervonta – Ryan Garcia in the first quarter of 2022
“I don’t know if that fight [Gervonta vs. Ryan Garcia] is ready to be made,” said De La Hoya. “But when it is, which could be the first quarter of next year.
“The first quarter of next year is not that far along. I think it gives everybody time to prepare for it, you know?
“Because Gervonta is getting more popular, he’s getting recognized more, and he’s fighting like a beast.
“Ryan Garcia, we all know he’s got a super crazy, and he’s getting better. We have to let him recover a bit from what’s taken place with him.,” said Oscar about Ryan’s recent anxiety problem.
“We have to respect that. I think the first quarter of next year, I think a big fight like that can happen,” said De La Hoya about the Davis vs. Ryan fight.
“We’re going to meet with him [Ryan] this week in the next couple of days and see what he tells us,” said De La Hoya about meeting with King Ryan.
“We just have to let him be because what he’s going through is obviously not easy.
“A lot of people are going through it because of the pandemic because of other reasons.
“We just have to be. Whenever he’s ready, we’re here,” said Oscar about his young star Ryan Garcia.
De La Hoya must find a good opponent for Ryan’s next fight because he’s not helping himself sitting on the sidelines.
After that big win over Luke Campbell in January, Ryan needs a solid opponent for his next fight. He was asking for Tank Davis next, but that obviously isn’t going to happen now.
Options for Ryan’s next fight:
- Richard Commey
- Rolando Romero
- Jorge Linares
- Devin Haney
- Michel Rivera
- Isaac Cruz
- Lee Selby
Gilberto Ramirez vs. Sullivan Barrera this Friday
“We’ve been lucky enough to do a few shows in Texas and all over the country,” said De La Hoya about this Friday’s card headlined by Gilberto Ramirez vs. Sullivan Barrera.
“To come to LA, outdoors, the Bank of California Stadium. The whole card is incredible; we’re excited about it.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I think so. It’s literally in my backyard, and I can walk down and get to my headquarters, Golden Boy headquarters.
“Yeah, I’m excited that we can stage many more fights here in the future.
“My fight [against Vitor Belfort], I plan on doing my next fight in Vegas at the Raiders Stadium. That’s going to be pretty exciting,” said De La Hoya.
De La Hoya says he wants to focus on fighting MMA guys for his next two fights and then call out Floyd Mayweather Jr. Oscar is playing it safe by fighting 44-year-old Belfort and 46-year-old Anderson Silva rather than take on former boxers.
Ricky Hatton volunteered to face De La Hoya, but he’s not shown interest.
Light heavyweight Gilberto Ramirez vs. Sullivan Barrera will be an excellent fight. Ramirez hasn’t been all that active since vacating his WBO 168-lb title, and it’ll be good to see him back in the ring.