By Chris Williams: Oscar De La Hoya looked worried for Ryan Garcia during today’s press conference in Los Angeles for his fight with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. De La Hoya appeared motherly as if sending her child to school for the first time during the press conference.
It’s understandable why De La Hoya should be concerned because Ryan has never fought anyone even half as talented as Tank Davis before, and you don’t like to see a fighter taking this big of a step up in class.
If it’s true what Leonard Ellerbe said about De La Hoya didn’t want Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) to fight Tank Davis (28-0, 26 KOs), that might explain the worried look on his face.
It’s understandable why De La Hoya should have deep concerns because Ryan has taken over as the flagship fighter for Golden Boy Promotions since Canelo Alvarez departed the company, and he’s just now starting to pull in a big money.
If Ryan loses badly to Tank Davis, it would potentially be catastrophic for his career and for Golden Boy if he can’t come back from the loss.
Oscar has Vergil Ortiz Jr as a potential replacement for Ryan if his career goes downhill, but there are still a lot of question marks about whether Vergil has what it takes to go far at welterweight without the careful match-making we saw done on Canelo’s behalf.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about. I didn’t even know he was on Gervonta Davis’ team,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype when told that Leonard Ellerbe said that De Loya didn’t want to make the Tank Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fight.
“I didn’t know what he was doing here. We had no contact whatsoever. It was a big surprise to me seeing him on the stage there, so I have no clue.
“Every fighter has their game plan. Gervonta, we know what he does, and Ryan, we know what he does. We know how he fights. We know how every fighter takes their time, and they use every round. They calculate, they do this, they do that.
“When you’re in this type of fight, you do something different. You want to show them something different, and that’s what they’re going in camp. I have no idea what’s going to happen on April 22nd because both guys are going to come up with different plans.
“Every time I fought a big name, I had to change everything up because that guy was studying me. So, I don’t know what Gervonta is going to do. I don’t know what Ryan is going to do. They’re going to go out and fight.
“This fight is going to be won in the middle of the ring. They’re going to have to dig deep down inside and make it a dog fight at times. It has to be, but this fight is going to be won in the middle of the ring.
“I don’t know who is going to win. It’s an even fight, it’s a great fight, and a beautiful fight. I love it. Undefeated, young, it’s music to my ears. Whoever makes the first mistake they’re that calculated and that talented.
“What would be interesting to me is the mistakes they make. How a fighter cracks under pressure,” said De La Hoya.
