By Sam Volz: Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya surprisingly is taking Canelo Alvarez’s side on the beef between him and Ryan Garcia.
Last week, Floyd Mayweather Jr checked Ryan Garcia over the criticism that he’d leveled at superstar Canelo and told him that he shouldn’t talk unless he’s accomplished the same things.
The unbeaten lightweight star Ryan (22-0, 18 KOs) had trained at the same gym as Canelo with coach Eddy Reynoso, and he admired the former four-division world champion.
However, things turned sour between them shortly after Canelo criticized Ryan’s worth ethic in an interview and said he wasn’t getting the most out of his potential.
Shortly after that, Ryan stopped training at the Reynoso gym, and he fired back at Canelo by saying that when he captured his first world title, he won’t do it by fighting Matthew Hatton, as he had done in 2011 when he captured the vacant WBC 154-lb title.
What was odd about that fight is that Hatton, a career-long welterweight, had never fought at 154, yet the World Boxing Council sanctioned a fight between him and Canelo for their vacant WBC junior middleweight strap.
Some fans felt that the WBC made it too easy for Canelo to win their title in that weight class. At the time, Antonio Margarito was highly ranked, and he seemingly was bypassed to battle for the vacant 154-lb belt in favor of Hatton, the brother of superstar Ricky Hatton.
“You have to respect fighters who have experience, fighters who are legends, who are world champions, who have a say, and when you talk, people listen,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype, reacting to Floyd Mayweather Jr checking Ryan Garcia about him criticizing Canelo Alvarez.
“I’m with Mayweather; I’m with Canelo. The only thing I have to say is that when Ryan Garcia fights for a world title, his first world title, obviously it’s not going to be against Matthew Hatton,” said De La Hoya.
“I have respect for that team because they’ve done so much for us,” said Ryan’s dad Henry Garcia to Fighthype about Team Canelo. “If he said something that Ryan disagreed on, Ryan will come back and say something, will rebut to it, and that’s what he does.
“Overall, we’re all in this together, so let’s hope for the best for everyone. I think Ryan already answered that question because, first of all, it’s between Eddy [Reynoso] and Ryan if that’s the case. It’s not between Canelo and,” Henry said when told that Canelo said that he owed trainer Eddy Reynoso some money.
“In terms of that [about whether Reynoso is owed money], they would have to decide on that because remember, even though there were at times that Eddy wasn’t there, Ryan had mentioned that we still paid Eddy the full percentage, full camp.
“It balances out, don’t you think? That’s fair. We do love that team. I love them,” said Henry Garcia about Team Canelo.
