Ryan Garcia has had plenty of words for his promotional team in the aftermath of his loss to Gervonta Davis, but Bernard Hopkins believes the fighter is wrong.
Garcia was served his first professional loss at the hands of Davis, and found himself without Oscar De La Hoya or Hopkins at the post-fight press conference, although Eric Gomez of Golden Boy was there.
He has said he felt ‘abandoned’ by his team, and even claimed that the people around Davis treated him with more respect. This boiled over in a public argument with De La Hoya.
Hopkins – one third of Golden Boy Promotions alongside De La Hoya and Gomez – spoke to FightHype.com about the drama, specifically the recent Twitter back and forth.
“I just told Oscar to duck. Just make sure you duck. You gotta keep ducking. They’ll work things out – which is nine out of ten already talked about and respected.”
Despite advising his business partner to steer clear of the drama, Hopkins still has issues with some of the things Garcia has said in the aftermath.
According to him, the reported death threats that stopped De La Hoya attending the presser were very real, and Hopkins himself wasn’t even allowed in the ring post-fight. In short, he completely dismisses any criticism that Garcia was abandoned in defeat.
“There’s still been things said that I don’t like. Because I know for a fact that I was there, in his [Garcia’s] dressing room, talking to Ryan when he apologised to me and I said you don’t have to apologise to me. After the fight.
Knowing that Oscar got death threats. I seen the texts from security and Oscar. I wasn’t allowed in the ring – I got that on video on this phone – when he stopped me. But I didn’t make a stink of it, because it ain’t my night. It’s Ryan Garcia’s night. It would be very selfish of me to do that.
To hear Ryan’s comments about Golden Boy wasn’t there to represent him – they were there. Just me and Oscar wasn’t there for good reasons. But I was there to greet him after the fight in the dressing room. And I have video.”
Following Garcia and De La Hoya’s very public spat, neither has comments on where the relationship stands. De La Hoya continues to promote the 24-year-old in the sense that he’s openly looking for opponents.