It has been more than a year, but there are very few days when boxing fans don’t recall and debate Ryan Garcia‘s fight with Gervonta Davis. More than the fight, the contractual stipulations seized the headlines, and continue to do so till this day. While ‘KingRy’ had a delayed reaction to a body punch and took a knee, many fans saw it coming. Why did it happen? Oscar De La Hoya reveals it all.
De La Hoya, 51, discussed the Davis vs. Garcia fight when he sat down with Shannon Sharpe at Club Shay Shay. He laid it bare that the writing was on the wall for his star boxer. After all, the rehydration clause had left him toothless in the fight. When asked how the rehydration clause found its way into the contract, the American promoter disclosed that it was not his doing.
De La Hoya admitted Garcia, 26, had his lawyers and adviser negotiate the contract. He said, “I believe he fought at 135. So let me tell you all the roadblocks and stipulations on the contracts, ’cause I didn’t negotiate that fight. Ryan’s lawyer and advisers negotiated that rehydration clause and the purse split. I was just, like, ‘Let me stand back. Let me watch them make mistakes’.”
In addition, the Golden Boy Promotions lynchpin admitted that he once found himself in a similar predicament when he fought Manny Pacquiao in 2008. So, he knew Garcia, at 24-1 now, faced an impossible task. De La Hoya continued, “I felt so bad for Ryan because he was sucked up. He was a dead man. He reminded me of me when I fought Pacquiao. There’s no chance he’s gonna win against ‘Tank’, who’s a beast. There is no chance.”
There have been rumors of a rematch since their fight, and a few still theorize what would have been if there was no rehydration clause, which didn’t allow Garcia to rehydrate above a certain limit.
What if Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis fought now?
De La Hoya, in the same conversation, couldn’t make a calculated guess when posed the same question. All he had to say was, “I don’t know. I don’t know.” The LA native then heaped praise on Davis, at 29, and called him “skillfully” and a “beast.” He also believed ‘Tank’ was on the path to becoming great.
Because he fights,” De La Hoya added. With Garcia moving to 140 and now spending a year on the sidelines, and Davis still racking up wins at 135, it’s hard to fix a rematch between the two now.
