By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya says he wants Ryan Garcia to start taking boxing more seriously following his loss to Gervonta Davis on April 22nd.
De L Hoya wants the 24-year-old Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) to train harder once he gets his new coaching team in place and put more time into the sport so he can find success.
It’s easier said than done for De La Hoya to want Ryan to turn over a new leaf and start taking boxing seriously. He’s 24 with over $20 million net worth and swimming with endorsement deals.
How is he going to suddenly get seerious about a sport that has been more of a hobby for him than a real job. It could prove impossible.
It’s difficult for people to make lasting change in their lives, and when you’ve got the kind of money that Ryan has, it’s not likely that he’s going to be anything otheer than what he’s always been. In some people’s minds, Ryan will always be an Intagram boxer, which is a new category of fighter.
Oscar says he didn’t know about Ryan’s preexisting rib injury that he had before his fight with Tank Davis. He now questions whether that was the reason he chose not to take the tune-up against Mercita Gesta in January that he wanted him to take.
Oscar feels it was a mistake on Ryan’s part to take the contest against the more experienced Gervonta (29-0, 27 KOs) without a tune-up.
Further, De Hoya says Ryan should have never agreed to the weight stipulations for the fight, as he feels that drained him, playing an additional factor in his loss to Tank.
Oscar maintains that if it were up to him, Ryan wouldn’t have said yes to the 136-lb catchweight and 10-lb rehydration clause for the fight, which was a double whammy. Gervonta played Ryan, and he let him get over.
Weight stipulations played a factorÂ
“Well, first of all, you saw a superior Tank Davis. He was focused, he was fresh, he was tunnel vision, and he had the perfect game plan,” said Oscar De Hoya to Fight Hub TV on why Ryan Garcia lost to Gervonta Davis.
“They had studied Ryan Garcia. People talk about the mole, and I believe there was a mole. But obviously, the weight draining was a big issue. It was a huge issue. If I was negotiating this fight on my terms, that would have never happened.
“For Ryan to fight at 136 at the catchweight that they agreed upon, even a pound is a huge difference, and then having to weigh in the next day and come under ten pounds was a huge factor.
“Ryan Garcia has to rearrange his team, his inner circle and take it from there and take boxing seriously and train harder and train smarter and have an actual training camp up in the mountains where you’re focused where you have tunnel vision, that’s my opinion.
“I had no idea whatsoever. I had no clue whatsoever that he had a rib injury or whatever. I was wondering why he didn’t take the January fight [against Mercito Gesta]. That was a huge concern, first of all, for him not to take that fight. That was huge.
“How can you keep a car idle in a garage and not turn it on for several months, and then think you’re going to run the race at the Daytona 500? It’s impossible. So that was a big concern for me.
“I don’t know, but I would love to know. I’ll get to the bottom of it,” said De La Hoya when asked if he knew who the mole was that was spilling secrets about what was going on in Ryan Garcia’s camp to Tank Davis.
“When a fighter loses, he fires everyone. That’s the way it is. I remember my first loss. I fired everybody, but I didn’t blame myself,” said Oscar.
De La Hoya still hasn’t spoken to Ryan
“I haven’t spoken to him,” said De La Hoya when asked what he told Ryan after his loss to Gervonta.
“It’s all by design. People trying to wedge something between Ryan and me,” said De La Hoya when asked about the criticism he’s received from fans after he chose not to attend Ryan’s post-fight press conference after his loss to Tank.
“Obviously, me and Ryan have something great going, and we have something amazing going with his career, and he’s on the rise, even though he lost. There are a lot of people out there who are trying to create a wedge.
“I understand it, but look, Golden Boy is here to stay. We’re going to keep promoting for 50 more years, and that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.
“Fighters are going to be with us or not. I just strongly feel that there is a lot of people that have a lot of hate and jealousy, but we must continue to keep doing what we do and move on with our business,” said De La Hoya.
