Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya has admitted making the biggest fight of the year so far was challenging as the bout between his fighter Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis draws near.
Speaking exclusively to ProBox TV, De La Hoya said Saturday’s Las Vegas superfight boiled down to the fighters wanting it.
“It was actually difficult,” De La Hoya said, of making the match. “It took a lot of time, a lot of detail that went into it and working with Al Haymon is not the easiest task to confront, but we got it made… This fight was literally dead in the water at one point, and I remember calling up my personal lawyer so he could reach out to Stephen Espinoza…. So we reached out and we revived it.”
De La Hoya said they had to concede some points in negotiations “here and there” but the key to the deal was that Tank and Garcia both wanted the match.
Interestingly, De La Hoya told ProBox’s Paulie Malignaggi that he had wanted Garcia to take a warm up fight to stay sharp and make sure his timing was on point but Garcia wanted to go straight in.
“We spoke about it,” De La Hoya said to Malignaggi. “Ryan’s his own guy and he knows what he’s doing, I guess. He was fed up with not giving the fight fans the fights that they want to see. Enough with these tune ups, I want to go right into the Gervonta Davis… Enough is enough. I think it was a mistake but I guess we will see on Saturday night.”
De La Hoya also said that he was not bothered by either the catchweight limit of 136lbs, or the rehydration cluse, and he thinks Garcia has a future at lightweight of at least “a few more fights”.
“I was all for getting Ryan Garcia the most pounds possible after 135 but it makes people believe Davis and his camp are obviously worried,” De La Hoya explained. “They’re worried about Ryan Garcia being the bigger and stronger man.”