Oscar De La Hoya Calls Ryan Garcia A ‘Kid’ Following His Outburst
Oscar De La Hoya has continued his back-and-forth with Ryan Garcia following the latter’s outburst towards him and Bernard Hopkins.
At the pre-fight presser for his fight with Oscar Duarte, Garcia took issue with some comments that Hopkins had made about Garcia’s future. The former questioned whether Garcia would continue fighting in the future if he did not come out with a win and an impressive performance. In response, Garcia made it clear that he was in control of his career. This is why his team would make the next move.
At the same time, Garcia hit back at De La Hoya, who would defend Hopkins on the basis that his comments had been taken out of context. Garcia addressed those comments, as he stated that the words were ‘clear’ without any misinterpretation. In response, De La Hoya has questioned Garcia’s mentality.
De La Hoya Reacts
“In the [Alexis] Rocha press conference, which was about two months ago, Bernard stated that, if it was him as a legend, as a fighter, as a hero, this is what he would do [retire with another loss]. He didn’t say ‘this is what Ryan should do’. So when you are dealing with kids, it is really hard to get that message across and then you have Ryan saying this and that, it’s all BS,” De La Hoya said
The tension between all sides suggests that Garcia’s future with Golden Boy may be over in the future. The boxer is in a legal battle with Golden Boy. The boxer alleged there was a breach in his contract. In response, De La Hoya sought to enforce the contract. That can only go on for so long, particularly if it begins to hamper Garcia’s performance in the ring.
And with the expectation to perform after having hired Derrick James as his new trainer, a loss for Garcia would be crippling. However, a win could set up a shot at a world title at 140 pounds. Bouts with Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney could emerge, which is why everything is on the line for Garcia. As such, De La Hoya urged the fighter to put his focus fully on the fight.
De La Hoya Urges Focus
“As a friend, as a person, as a promoter, as everything — I mean, ‘cause I don’t know, sometimes I think ‘that’s not him.’ It’s like ‘What’s going on? Why are we beefing? It’s like, I don’t understand. Maybe it’s the nerves, but he said it himself out of his mouth, all the issues he’s been having, this and that. So I don’t know, I’m just concerned. Focus on this fight, focused on this training and get the job at hand done. So it’s just concerning. It’s a genuine concern,” De La Hoya stated
The only way for Garcia to silence his critics is to come out victorious. And if he can do that, the criticism from the Gervonta Davis loss will disappear.
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