Oscar De La Hoya looking at Manny Pacquiao vs. Ryan Garcia next

By Boxing News - 05/31/2023 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Promoter Oscar De La Hoya told reporters today that he’s looking at making a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ryan Garcia next.

Pacquiao is one of a handful of fighters that are being looked at for Ryan’s summer fight. The others are these guys: Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, and Teofimo Lopez.

De La Hoya said that the 44-year-old Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs), who hasn’t fought in three years since 2021, and Ryan would fight at a catchweight if the match is made.

No one knows for sure if De La Hoya threw Pacquiao’s name out there just to give Ryan Garcia the appearance that he’s looking for big name opponents for him.

It’s believed that Ryan is upset with De La Hoya because he failed to show up at his post-fight press conference last April when he was stopped in the seventh round by Gervonta Davis. De La Hoya later claimed that he had received death threats during the week of the fight.

It’s difficult to imagine Pacquiao agreeing to fight the unaccomplished Ryan Garcia, as he’s never won a belt and is coming off a knockout loss in which he quit on a knee after taking a body shot against Gervonta Davis.

Many believe that Gervonta purposefully carried Ryan to the seventh because he didn’t want to deal with a huge backlash if he’d knocked him out in the first or second round.

If Pacquiao wants a nice payday, fighting Ryan would be the way for him to get that in a winnable fight. Although Pacquiao is old, he’d still likely have way too much ability for a limited guy like the 24-year-old Ryan, who mainly throws left hooks.

“Look, I’m going to give you guys the exclusive here. I’m also looking at Manny Pacquiao,” said Oscar De La Hoya to the media today when asked about who Ryan Garcia is fighting next.

Manny vs. Ryan, do you know how huge that would be? That’s bigger than anything on the table now. I got a few tricks up my sleeve. It would be like a catchweight. I’m not sure what, but I’m going to pursue that and all the other options. We’ll see what the best option is for Ryan,” said De La Hoya.

“Rolly Romero, he’s a character man. Yeah, he’s cool. I like him. He’s he’s a hard worker that’s cool he’s a hard worker, and he deserves a shot. He deserves you know whatever he’s he’s making now. It’ll be an entertaining fight

“Yeah, if either Al Haymon picks up the phone and calls me or I call him, and he picks up the phone. That’s his promoter,” said De La Hoya when asked if it’s possible to make a fight between Ryan Garcia and Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero next. “I’m Ryan’s promoter, so let’s make the fight happen.

“That’s the only way it’s going to happen, and I want to make the fight. That’s all it’s going to take. That’s all,” said De La Hoya about him and Haymon needing to talk for the Ryan vs. Rolly fight to happen. “Obviously, me as Ryan Garcia’s promoter, I’m going to get him the best deal possible.

“He’s in it for the money obviously. He’s in it for the glory, but me, my obligation is to get him the best deal possible. That’s what I have to do. I have to look at all these other fighters.

“I’m looking at Teofimo [Lopz] carefully against [Josh] Taylor that’s coming up [on June 10th]. It’s coming up on the same night as [Jaime] Munguia, so it depends on what makes sense,” said De La Hoya.

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