Six-division world champion and founder of Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya has responded to the recent clips of his former opponent, Floyd Mayweather Jr, meeting with his promotional poster boy, Ryan Garcia.
De La Hoya faced Mayweather back in 2007, where he lost a split-decision and his WBC Super-Welterweight Title to the legendary American, and now he will be hoping that his rival doesn’t take his cash cow too.
Ryan Garcia has emerged as one of the sport’s top stars over the last couple of years, with his unsuccessful showdown against Gervonta Davis last year amassing over one million pay-per-view buys.
As the 25-year-old now seeks world titles in the super-lightweight ranks, he has been seen hanging out with Mayweather.
In an interview with Fight Hub, De La Hoya claimed that he wasn’t concerned by their link-up, instead insisting that it will be beneficial for Garcia to spend some time with such a legendary fighter.
“If Floyd Mayweather Jr is actively promoting and is still a promoter, which I’m not sure about because Al Haymon doesn’t have dates until March, so I don’t know what Floyd Mayweather Jr is doing in the meantime, but back in the day, in my book, that would be a conflict of interest. Back in my day, we might have put him on notice because promoters are talking to our fighters or poaching, but I don’t think that’s the case.”
“I think that it’s great that Ryan and Floyd are running together because he [Ryan] can soak up all of the knowledge from Floyd, a young kid being amongst the greats, is always a positive for me.”
Despite publicly stating he was in talks with WBC Champion Devin Haney, Garcia has changed route and declared he wants to face the WBA’s Rolando Romero since the meeting with Mayweather. It’s something De La Hoya says hasn’t been discussed, and that his last orders were to make the Haney fight.