Despite being the biggest fight of the year, quite possibly, Gervonta “Tank” Davis and “King” Ryan Garcia have had a rather somber and slow fight week, for their Saturday, April 22 in a SHOWTIME PPV production from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thursday’s final press conference though brought some of the big fight feel that many of us had been waiting for.
Though both fighters exchanged words, it was Ryan Garcia’s promoter and hall-of-fame boxer, Oscar De La Hoya, who stole the show. De La Hoya, who has been vocal through the whole process of the fight being made was just as vocal today at the press conference.
Earlier this week, Oscar De La Hoya was a guest on ProBoxTV as he was interviewed by Paulie Malignaggi, Chris Algieri, and Claudia Trejos. De La Hoya was very candid stating similar sentiments regarding the demands that Davis’ team had.
“It makes me believe that Gervonta Davis and his camp are obviously worried about and there's some sense of not being scared obviously you're not scared [being a pro boxer], but it's just they're worried about Ryan Garcia coming in too heavy,” De La Hoya when speaking to ProBoxTV’s studio hosts earlier this week when addressing the weight situation for this fight. “I been a fighter myself, I understand it and then I get the idea of dehydrating your opponent and trying to have every advantage possible for your fighter, but this [fight has been] ridiculous. I mean, [Davis’ side] had a lot of excuses…the fact that Ryan Garcia wanted this fight so bad. You know it was making it difficult on myself to negotiate because Ryan Garcia was so vocal publicly about taking this fight.”
As for where the winner goes from here. De La Hoya has been consistent. De La Hoya believes the winner of this bout isn’t just the winner of a prize fight. The winner also becomes the new face of the sport of boxing. De La Hoya doubled down on this today.
“I truly believe that the winner of this fight will be the new king of the sport,” said De La Hoya. “As someone who spent most of his early life in the ring, I know first-hand what it takes to compete at the highest level. This is the highest level. I look at Ryan [Garcia] and I know he’s ready. I look at Ryan’s team and they know he’s ready.”
