Oscar De La Hoya and Ryan Garcia were interested observers Saturday night when Devin Haney beat George Kambosos Jr. via unanimous decision for undisputed lightweight champion status.
The undefeated Garcia next faces Javier Fortuna on July 16 at the Crytpo.com Arena in Los Angeles on DAZN, and the rising 23-year-old phenom is looking for a much more significant fight soon after with one of the top lightweights.
“Congrats to Haney but it was definitely just a bland fight,” Garcia wrote on Twitter after Haney’s win. “Anyways, I’ll just say, you know who I want after Fortuna! Let them have their rematch — absolutely ‘Nyquil’ type of performance.”
Garcia has been positioning himself to fight Gervonita Davis over the last two years. During Davis’ knockout win against Rolando Romero, Garcia was sitting ringside in Brooklyn, New York and even lost a $20,000 bet with Errol Spence Jr. that Rolly would beat Tank. He also had a back and forth exchange with Davis’ promoter Leonard Ellerbe calling for the fight.
During the Haney vs. Kambosos fight, Garcia tweeted at Tank, “are you watching this stuff? When we fight, don’t let it be like this!”
Davis replied back: “Shut the f— up!”
Garcia said: “Oh yeah you say shut the f— up but you were screaming I’m next. You should want this fight, don’t trip your disrespect will be addressed!! Promise you that bitch”
De La Hoya also chimed in throughout the night, telling Haney and Kambosos “thanks for having the balls to face each other.”
Although De La Hoya promotes Garcia, he wrote: “All I can think of is Haney vs. Tank being the most exciting fight in boxing.”
Twenty-seven minutes later, he added: “And all roads lead to Ryan Garcia.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.