By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De Hoya is pleased that Ryan Garcia chose to take on the dangerous knockout artist Oscar Duarte on December 2nd rather than an easier option.
It’s fair to say that if Ryan can’t cut the mustard against Duarte, he doesn’t belong fighting for a world title at 140 against any of the champions, even Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, the weakest link.
Ryan cannot lose this fight because that would wreck his career, as it would be his second defeat in a row and a sign that he’s incapable of competing against top-tier opposition.
De La Hoya commends Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) for showing bravery in choosing the dangerous puncher Duarte (26-1, 24 KOs) after being knocked out in his previous fight against Gervonta Davis last April.
If Ryan wins, De La Hoya says he could face Teofimo Lopez for his WBO light welterweight title or the winner of the fight between WBC 140-lb champion Regis Prograis & Devin Haney.
De La Hoya isn’t saying which belt he’ll position Ryan to fight for, as that’ll probably be his decision. Given that Ryan has been particularly interested in fighting Haney, it’s likely that he’ll choose WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo next February rather than the Haney-Prograis winner.
“Ryan Garcia has his next date in December. I was pleasantly surprised that he chose Oscar Duarte as his next opponent because getting knocked out by Tank Davis and now fighting a knockout artist is not going to be an easy task. So I commend him for that. I respect him for that,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype about Ryan Garcia’s bounce-back fight on December 2nd against lightweight Oscar Duarte.
The boxing public was expecting a better opponent from Ryan than the fringe lightweight contender Duarte because he doesn’t fight at 140, and all of his wins have come against unknown lower-level opponents in Mexico.
De La Hoya might be “pleasantly surprised” by Ryan’s pick for his next fight, but people wanted him to, at the very minimum, select a fringe contender from the 140-lb division rather than selecting from the bottom of the 135-lb division.
It makes sense to choose an opponent from a division you’re going to be fighting in rather than selecting from a weight class that you departed, but obviously, there are some concerns about whether Ryan’s chin will hold up.
“I think it’s not going to be an easy fight, but he’s on a mission. He wants to become a world champion; he believes he will be a world champion. So this is the first step towards that on December 2nd, I believe,” said De La Hoya.
“We just got to move forward, and I wish him all the best in training camp, and let’s give the fight fans a good fight. It’ll be a great match, but now you’re talking about after hopefully beating Oscar Duarte if he beats Oscar Duarte. It’s not an easy fight,” said De La Hoya when asked if he wants to match Ryan Garcia against the Devin Haney vs. Regis Prograis winner if he’s victorious against Duarte.
“Like I said, if he does [beat Duarte], there’s Teofimo Lopez, there’s the winner of Haney and Prograis. The opportunities are endless,” said De la Hoya about Ryan’s options.
