It was announced by Mike Coppinger of ESPN.com Monday evening that Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia had ran into a hang up over a rematch clause. A collective sigh of the sporting world gasped as yet another mega-fight feels doomed with this news, but LazyLeftyOG of Chicken Tawk Radio did an interview with Stephen Espinoza that gave a bit of hope to the situation.
“I am still optimistic about this thing,” said Stephen Espinoza Executive Vice President of Showtime Sports. “To me it goes back to one of the fundamental lessons of journalism school, and that is ‘when you’re talking to a source you have to ask yourself, what is the agenda, why is this sourcing willing to talk to me and say what they are willing to say?"
It appears Espinoza who was not quoted in the prior article feels he was not allowed to voice his opinion in this matter.
“When you read Oscar’s [De La Hoya] comments, the question is ‘why is [De La Hoya] characterizing things in a certain way,” furthered Espinoza. “[De La Hoya] perceives that he is going to put this out and put pressure on another side….I have been real consistent, I would love to give you all the gory details, but I think I have been pretty consistent, that I don’t think 99.9% of cases it doesn’t help the process to air the negations publicly.”
It is clear that Espinoza and Showtime’s side sees that the recent article might have been put out to put pressure on their side rather than to help close the deal behind the scenes.
“…no one knows what Golden Boy [Promotions] open points are, we sent a revised draft to them last week, and we haven’t heard anything,” said Espinoza when speaking on the rematch clause and contract status. “This is actually when I read on ESPN.com, that there is only one issue left, this is the first time I heard that…great! If there is one issue left, there is one issue left.”
Though my initial thought was doom and gloom, Espinoza’s recent interview with LazyLefty gave me a lot of hope.