Ryan Garcia Says Golden Boy Doesn’t Believe in Him
On December 2, the immensely popular super lightweight fighter “King” Ryan Garcia (23-1, 19 KO’s) will face Oscar Duarte. Yet, more than Duarte, Garcia’s beef with his own promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), has taken center stage. So much so that in the final media press conference, King Ryan took the podium and specifically took GBP founder, Oscar De La Hoya, and high ranking officer, Bernard Hopkins, to task.
“One thing that’s been on my heart is the statements that Bernard made where he’ll decide if I should continue boxing after this fight. He don’t decide that . . . and another thing that I wanted to touch on is Oscar saying that we misinterpret what they say. It’s plain English, I didn’t hear anybody speaking in any language that I don’t know”
“So, it’s very clear to me that they’re backing this guy [Oscar Duarte] to beat me just like they thought [Romero] Duno was gonna beat me. He was the next Filipino star; They are saying he is the next Mexican star. I put everything into this fight, I’m extremely committed . . . I’m here to make an example to the 140 division!”
It’s no secret that Golden Boy Promotions and Ryan Garcia have hit rough patches before. Being the vocal individual that he is, King Ryan famously made his displeasure with his financial compensation a public matter. After a bit of cantankerous back-and-forth exchanges, both sides were able to find an amenable resolution to their conflict. This recent in-house squabbling however, appears to be the beginning of the end of this union.
THE KING STANDS ALONE
The trouble really flared back up following Garcia’s last fight versus Regular WBA 135-pound champion Gervonta Davis. Having just suffered his first professional defeat to Tank, King Ryan felt doubly insulted when none of his Golden Boy Promoters attended the post-fight conference. Naturally, the GBP brass had a bevy of excuses as to why they were not there, but none that made a bunch of sense. This was further complicated when Golden Boy then sued Garcia for breach of contract.
Since that rift, Garcia has dealt with De La Hoya and crew exclusively with a long-handled spoon. Yet, his going so far out of his way to publicly air his displeasure is certainly a foreboding sign of things to come. Before this calamity with King Ryan though, Golden Boy Promotions fumbled arguably the biggest name in sport when they lost undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
HISTORY OF BUTTERFINGERS
Similar to Garcia, starting behind the scenes there was a growing rift between De La Hoya and Canelo that could not be denied. Unable to squelch their discord, Alvarez began using Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing as his front man. Both Golden Boy and Matchroom were affiliated with DAZN, which made this initial transition that much easier. Finally, the redheaded phenomenon would sever ties with all three business entities in order to sign a short term multi-fight deal with PBC.
Yet, years before Canelo turned in his walking papers, Golden Boy Promotions took a colossal hit in their roster. This was because the promotional outfit was finessed out of a huge chunk of their line-up by former chief executive officer and Golden Boy Promotions co-founder Richard Schaefer. Not only did Schaefer abscond away with the fighters, they all went to rival company PBC. The same company that Canelo is calling his temporary home now.
Losing a boat of fighters in one transaction in the Schaefer debacle and then losing the face of boxing in Canelo were clearly major blows. Now a formal public announcement of Garcia parting ways with Golden Boy Promotion seems inevitable. And if this does indeed take place, one burning question in the industry will be: why cant GBP seem to hold onto their biggest fighters?
