Bernard Hopkins has said that whatever beef he had with Ryan Garcia has been squashed.
Speaking ahead of the Los Angeles leg of the Devin Haney-Garcia press tour, Hopkins said he had never had any hard feelings with Garcia, who on Tuesday in New York had stood up and embraced the Golden Boy Promotions exec and former world middleweight and light heavyweight champion.
“To me, he buried something that wasn’t with me,” Hopkins said. “As I said, ‘We have no beef.’ That’s [Garcia’s] way of laying out the frustration he laid out, and we can say whispers and other influences and things [were involved]. And I tell the young fighters with Golden Boy today, what goes on outside the boxing ring is you have to understand the growth and development of being a superstar. When you get to that level, there’s a lot of pressure.”
Hopkins said that the deal for Haney and Garcia to meet for a fourth time, having split their six-fight amateur rivalry 3-3, was easily done and completed within 10 minutes.
‘The Alien’ added: “I’m not making any excuses for Ryan. I’m just saying that what frustrations he had or whatever beef he had with my partner, Oscar De La Hoya, and me not showing up and supporting him [after Garcia’s loss to Gervonta “Tank” Davis last year], the world knows who he’s been influenced by. But even not giving that the blame all the way, we must take accountability.
“Fighters must take accountability for their actions, because they’re not kids.
“These young men have to understand they’ve got to do men’s business in and out of the ring, and they’ve got to conduct themselves in that same fashion.”
Hopkins is excited about Garcia and Haney meeting on April 20 in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, saying, “This is a big fight; it’s big for both guys.
“The experience I have, people should believe me when I say the energy is there – and it should be for this fight. They have history, but they’re building animosity over the years, where they’re using this fight in the pros to break the tie of a 3-3 on both sides from the amateurs, so they’ve got some momentum.”
Then, referring back to Garcia, Hopkins added: “No beef. We want him to win here at Golden Boy.”
