By Craig Daly: Oscar De La Hoya has finally surfaced to react to Golden Boy Promotions fighter Ryan Garcia’s seventh round knockout loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last weekend in Las Vegas.
Many boxing fans feel that De La Hoya abandoned Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) afterward, not appearing by his side as support at the post-fight press conference, giving the appearance to some that he didn’t want to stand with him and facing the media to answer their questions & listen to Tank Davis talk about his win.
De La Hoya says Ryan Garcia will be “back stronger than ever,” but will he? Can he deal with killers like Subriel Matias and Regis Prograis at 140? What kind of career can Ryan have if he’s maneuvered around all the talented competition at light welterweight? There are too many gifted fighters at 140 for Ryan to swerve them all without it being obvious.
Ryan Garcia was supposed to replace Canelo Alvarez for Golden Boy, but we saw a guy who couldn’t handle the elite-level competition in his fight with Tank.
Many fans feel that Ryan should leave Golden Boy once his contract ends and move on to another promoter. Of course, it might not matter if the 24-year-old Kingry leaves because his loss showed that he’s probably not ready for upper-tier competition at 140, and if he’s thrown in with anyone good, he’s likely to get stopped, as we saw in his loss to Tank Davis.
“Congratulations to @gervontaa for the win. I stand behind these two flags because I’m proud to be American and proud of my culture, @kingryan I couldn’t be more proud of you for going through what you have been through. You will be back stronger and better than ever,” said Oscar De La Hoya on Instagram, giving kudos to Gervonta Davis and vowing that Ryan Garcia will be “back stronger.”
There was nothing magical about what Gervonta (29-0, 27 KOs) did to defeat Ryan last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Tank hit Ryan with a simple body shot, and he took a knee and was counted out by the referee.
The power that Tank Davis showed was no better than many of the top 140-pounders, so, predictably, Ryan’s career will flounder at light welterweight if he’s matched against quality opposition instead of the fodder that he’d been fighting before he got his big payday fight against Gervonta.
It will be interesting to watch how Golden Boy maneuvers Ryan Garcia in the 140-lb division because the weight class is like a minefield, with guys that could destroy Kingry just like Tank Davis, but far, far worse because they’re bigger, stronger, and more rugged.
If Ryan had fought quality lightweights throughout his career, he would likely have already been exposed and shown that he lacks the talent to compete with the best. Instead, Ryan was matched against easy opposition like Javier Fortuna, Luke Campbell, Emmanuel Tagoe, and Francisco Fonseca.
