Founder of Golden Boy Promotions and six-weight world champion, Oscar De La Hoya, has had a dig at Ryan Garcia following an uncomfortable press conference ahead of his fight with Oscar Duarte this weekend.
Garcia gunned for De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins, claiming that his own promoters are backing Duarte to pull off the upset rather than supporting their poster boy in bouncing back from a first career defeat.
‘King Ryan’ went one step further, attempting to embarrass Hopkins after he took offence at the Hall of Famer’s suggestions that he should retire from boxing if he is unable to overcome Duarte.
In an interview with Fight Hub after the fact, De La Hoya attempted to clarify the situation between Garcia and Hopkins, labelling the former as a ‘kid’ and declaring that he had mis-interpreted what ‘B-Hop’ was stating.
“In the [Alexis] Rocha press conference, which was about two months ago, Bernard stated that, if it was him as a legend, as a fighter, as a hero, this is what he would do [retire with another loss]. He didn’t say ‘this is what Ryan should do’. So when you are dealing with kids, it is really hard to get that message across and then you have Ryan saying this and that, it’s all BS.”
All eyes will be on Garcia this weekend as he takes on Duarte in Houston, Texas – a difficult comeback fight for the super-lightweight contender with the underdog currently on an eleven-fight knockout streak that dates back to February 2019.
The bout will be available to watch live on DAZN on Saturday 2 December, topping a bill that also features Shane Mosley Jr, son of the three-weight champion of the same name, as well as lightweight prospect, Floyd Schofield, and Garcia’s brother, Sean.