De La Hoya looking at Garcia vs Teofimo fight, Ryan still focused on Davis
Oscar De La Hoya is looking at options for Ryan Garcia to land a big fight.
Oscar De La Hoya may be doing what he can to secure Ryan Garcia a fight with Gervonta “Tank” Davis for later this year, but the Golden Boy promoter is also apparently keeping options open.
Mike Coppinger reports that De La Hoya plans to be in attendance on Saturday in Las Vegas when Teofimo Lopez returns to action in an ESPN main event, with an idea behind making a fight between Garcia and Lopez now that both are officially at 140 lbs.
Coppinger does also say that Garcia’s desire remains the Davis fight, not Lopez, but a few things here:
- What you want is not often what you get in boxing.
- De La Hoya and Golden Boy simply may not be able to make the fight with Davis. Flat-out. Period. That could be the offer isn’t right, or PBC and/or Davis aren’t willing to play ball, whatever — again, just because you have some clout it doesn’t mean you get everything you want in boxing, especially if the other side in a negotiation also has some clout.
- Having a backup plan to get Garcia a big fight really is what Golden Boy should be doing. Very few people seem to expect the Davis vs Garcia fight to happen; Garcia is among them, but he also told everyone he was going to fight Manny Pacquiao. (That was the last time he insisted Davis be next and then he wasn’t.)
- A fight with Teofimo would be big — not as big as Davis, I won’t lie there — and it’s probably far easier to make, as long as Lopez and Top Rank have any interest in making it.
Now on the one hand, yes, this seems a pretty clear admission that De La Hoya has serious doubts he can make the Davis fight for Garcia. Will that bug Garcia? Maybe. He’s almost left the company, like, three times or whatever, before being soothed and signing an extension. But if the Davis fight can’t be made, and Golden Boy are sure that it can’t be for terms they will accept, then it’s time to move on to another target.
Lopez would be a fitting target, at least. History does suggest it also won’t be Lopez and that instead Garcia will probably fight Steve Claggett or Yves Ulysse Jr while still talking about Davis and maybe Lopez, too, but we’ll see.