By Brian Webber: Oscar De La Hoya says Ryan Garcia will be returning in November at 140, and they’ve been offering him different opponents that have all been rejected thus far.
Oscar isn’t saying who the opponents the 25-year-old Ryan has been turning down for his November date, but he needs someone that the boxing public will be willing to pay to see on PPV.
The initial target for Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) was WBA light welterweight champion Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero. He’s on “Medical leave,” says De La Hoya, and he believes his belt will become vacant. Rolly has already been ordered to defend against his WBA mandatory Ohara Davies.
If that belt becomes vacant, #6 Ryan would have to face Davies for the strap, which wouldn’t be a piece of cake for him. Ohara is an excellent body puncher.
Still, this might be the best direction to go in for Ryan if the belt becomes vacant because the 140-lb division is littered with landmines that could explode on the popular Instagram star if he were to be matched against the wrong guy.
Fighters that Ryan Garcia should avoid for the November fight:
- Gary Antuanne Russell
- Richardson Hitchins
- Subriel Matias
- Arnold Barboza Jr.
- Jose Ramirez
- Sandor Martin
- Kenneth Sims
Ryan Garcia needs a big name
De La Hoya can’t match Ryan against a stiff, thinking the fans will purchase the fight on pay-per-view. What complicates things is that Ryan is coming off a seventh round knockout loss to Gervonta Davis last April.
Tank exposed Ryan in that fight, showing that he can’t handle getting hit to the body. It’s important that whoever Golden Boy Promotions chooses for Ryan, they can’t put him in with a big puncher because they will target his body the way Tank did, looking to duplicate what he did.
“Ryan Garcia, we have a date for him in November. We’ve been presenting different opponents to him; they’ve been turning them down,” Oscar De La Hoya told Fighthype about Ryan Garcia in his next fight in November.
“At 140, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with,” De La Hoya continued about Ryan.”We’ll hopefully nail something down very soon, but his date is November, and we’re looking to make a huge fight with him on that date and take it from there.”
It’s difficult to imagine Ryan being a “force” at 140, as De La Hoya states, because he would need to be able to hang with the killers in the division, and there are many that are too dangerous for him based on his performances against Tank Davis & Luke Campbell.
“You have Rolly on medical leave, so the [WBC 140-lb] world title may become vacant,” said De La Hoya. “There are many moving parts, but Ryan Garcia is returning in November.”
