Posted on 07/14/2022
By: Sean Crose
Oscar De La Hoya knows a bit about making a major fight happen. Not only has he put together high profile matches as the head of Golden Boy Promotions, he was a longtime top attraction in the sport himself, one who engaged in some of the largest, most popular, and most lucrative ring battles in history. Now De La Hoya is speaking openly about a potential superbout between Gervonta “Tank” Davis and his own fighter, Ryan Garcia. “It’s very possible,” De La Hoya told FightHub of a potential throwdown between the two popular lightweights. As for the fact that Davis currently fights under the banner of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, De La Hoya appears unconcerned.
“We’ve worked with PBC before in the past,” De La Hoya said. “It’s not easy, but I’m going to start pushing it hard and if I have to push it hard in the media then I’m going to do so.” De La Hoya also made it clear that he believes fan support may be needed as well, if a Davis-Garcia match is to come to fruition. “If the fans can get behind me to push for that fight,” he claimed, “then I can think we can pressure them once and for all to make that fight happen.”
Of course, some might say Garcia and his team should be focused right now on Saturday night, when the 22-0 Garcia will step into the ring to face Javier Fortuna in Los Angeles. De La Hoya, however, indicates that it’s his job to give his fighter what he wants, and what Garcia seems to want is a fight with Davis. “The bottom line is that he wants to fight,” De La Hoya said, “and as his promoter, if he wants the fight, then we get him the fight.” De La Hoya went on to claim that Garcia has things in common with the undefeated, 27-0 knockout artist Davis.
“They have the ‘it factor,’” De La Hoya said of both fighters. While it’s certainly true the two men can draw attention to themselves (Davis packs in the live fans while Garcia has millions of followers on social media), Garcia is nowhere near as accomplished as Davis is. That, however, doesn’t seem to matter to team Garcia. “I think it’s the right time,” said De La Hoya of a match with Davis. No doubt Javier Fortuna might have something to say about that. Provided Garcia gets past Fortuna this weekend as he’s expected to, however, the question will arise as to who the 23 year old will be facing next.