By Adam Baskin: Oscar De La Hoya says Ryan Garcia made a cool $30 million for his mega-fight against Gervonta’ Tank’ Davis on Showtime PPV last April. That’s double the $15M Ryan had been rumored to have made for the Tank fight.
That’s excellent money for a fighter with scant experience as a pro and had never beaten any big names before fighting Gervonta in their catchweight fight.
Ryan’s popularity is mainly from social rather than his pro career, as he has 11 million Instagram followers. It’s believed that those aren’t boxing fans. Those are teenagers that are into Ryan, who is an influencer that happens to box.
De La Hoya revealed the information by pointing out that he’s doing an excellent job of promoting the 25-year-old Ryan, and he says he wasn’t in favor of the rehydration claim that was in the contract for the Tank fight.
De La Hoya states that he has a lawsuit against Ryan Garcia because he wants him to honor his contract, which still has several years left.
Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) made a boatload of money in losing by a seventh-round knockout after taking a knee and was counted by after getting hit with a hard body shot from Tank Davis.
If De La Hoya wins his lawsuit with Ryan, then the popular fighter will remain with Golden Boy Promotion for the remaining three years of his contract. De La Hoya insists that he will be promoting Ryan Garcia’s next fight, but he doesn’t say who and when that will be.
Ryan is training in Dallas, Texas, with his new coach Derrick James to improve his flaws. There had been talk of Ryan challenging WBA light welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero next, but that no longer appears to be a viable option. The WBA has ordered Rolly to defend against his mandatory Ohara Davies next.
Ryan Garcia made $30M for last fight
Oscar De La Hoya: “We have a lawsuit right now. I’m not suing him for money. He’s not suing me for money. I just want him to honor my contract. That’s it,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Ariel Helwani’s Youtube channel when asked how things were going with Ryan Garcia.
“Just honor the contract; that’s it. You have obligations. I want you to fight, I want you to be a legend. Do you think I wanted him to fight Tank Davis with a rehydration clause? Hell, no. I’m looking out for him, but he has people whispering in his ear. ‘Oh, Oscar is bad. Go with thi other promoter, who will take care of you more. You’ll make more money.’
“Guess what? Ryan just made thirty million+ dollars [for the Gervonta Davis fight]. I’m not doing anything wrong here. I’m trying to create a legend. What better person than me to guide your career, to mold you into this superstar boxer who people will respect? But all these whispers, man. All these whispers.”
Ariel Helwani: “Does it bum you out that your relationship [with Ryan Garcia] has reached this point?”
De La Hoya: “It has, but Bob Arum once told me, ‘Oscar, you’re going to be disappointed, and they’re going to break your heart,’ meaning fighters, ‘So don’t take it personally.'”
Helwani: “And you’re not?”
De La Hoya: “No.”
Helwani: “The back & forth on Twitter is hard to watch because we view you as his big brother, and now it’s going back & forth. Is there no way of dealing with this behind the scenes that it never gets out? Was that just inevitable that it was going to get out in the public, and this was the best way to deal with it?”
De La Hoya: “Well, look, people have kept me away from him.”
Helwani: “You can’t speak to him?”
De La Hoya: “No.”
Helwani: “Why not? You can’t call him up? Do you think it could get fixed if you guys had a face-to-face?”
De La Hoya: “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
Helwani: “Okay.”
De La Hoya: “Look, I’m a promoter, and I’m going to be a promoter until I’m Bob Arum’s age. I love the sport. I love boxing. It gave me everything I have. I hate it, but I love it, and fighters come and go.”
Helwani: “Will you be promoting his [Ryan Garcia] next fight?”
De La Hoya: “Absolutely. Yeah. I still have several years in his contract.”
Helwani: “There’s no way you come to an agreement, and you go your separate ways or something like that?”
De La Hoya: “No.”
