![]() To me, this is important to everybody that it takes courage to go after something that nobody believed you could do. "You just get right back up and you don’t let negative people who won’t even dare to do anything keep you down because you know where you’re going in life. Even if you win or even if you lose, you showed them what a champion is in life. They’re going to see that you went out there and you fought the best and you gave it your all. "It can really change the trajectory of the sport and inspire young fighters to get it on right now. "This is a huge fight for boxing," Garcia said. As talented and charismatic as he is, he has a wisdom that belies his 24 years. Hell, this fight was announced in November but wasn't finalized until March. and heavyweights Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, it's not easy to get these fights done. The problem for Garcia is that he needs dance partners and as we've seen with the exhausting dragged on negotiations to make undisputed title fights between welterweights Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Ryan Garcia talks with Oscar De La Hoya during a media day event in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. And if he can perform at a high level, yes, he does have a chance to be the next De La Hoya. De La Hoya is a promoter trying to sell, but what is important is what Garcia did. Davis-Garcia has no chance to do even a quarter of that. ![]() For the record, the PPV record sales for a boxing match is 4.6 million, set in 2015 by Mayweather and Pacquiao. There is zero chance this bout shatters pay-per-view records. It’s going to do a huge amount of buys."Īs great as he was as a fighter, De La Hoya is even better with the hyperbole. It’s going to shatter pay-per-view records and numbers. Even before he was a superstar, I’ve always said that Ryan Garcia can become even bigger than Canelo. "He becomes this generation’s Ryan Garcia. "With a win, Ryan doesn’t become this generation’s Oscar De La Hoya," De La Hoya said. De La Hoya, though, shuns the comparisons with himself. Garcia has done nothing of the sort, though he's clearly oozing with potential. He fought a former champion in his eighth pro fight, which was eight months into his career, and fought for his first world title in his 12th bout, 15 months into his career. Managers and promoters were more cautious, and used more tune-ups for their elite fighters as a way to build impressive records with next-to-no risk.ĭe La Hoya bucked that trend and was seeking out the best competition he could early in his career. After a glorious decade in the 1980s, boxing was transitioning off of broadcast television and basic cable and onto premium cable, where the viewership was smaller. When De La Hoya was 23-0, he had already beaten world champions Hernandez, Ruelas, Jesse James Leija, Jorge Paez, Troy Dorsey and Jimmi Bredahl and was heading into a fight with Chavez Sr.īy the time that De La Hoya turned pro in 1992 following a gold medal earlier that year at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, the tide was turning in boxing. Davis is a quantum leap ahead of anyone whom Garcia has faced in building a 23-0 record with 19 knockouts. This, though, is where the difference between them lies. Promoter Oscar De La Hoya (R) believes Ryan Garcia can become the next big thing in boxing. It would be a lopsided win in De La Hoya's favor, even though Garcia is powerful, quick, courageous and charismatic, just as a young De La Hoya was. ![]() It's not fair to compare Garcia to De La Hoya just yet. ![]() It's across the street from the MGM Grand Garden, where De La Hoya built his reputation as one of the game's brightest lights. Garcia will fight Gervonta "Tank" Davis Saturday in a 136-pound bout in the main event of a pay-per-view card at T-Mobile Arena. De La Hoya, though, was anything but a chicken, and thankfully for boxing fans, he passed that trait to his protégé, "King" Ryan Garcia. There were more, but you get the idea.ĭe La Hoya, sadly, was tagged unfairly with the nickname "Chicken" De La Hoya after he did not rematch Whitaker. twice, Hector Camacho, Pernell Whitaker, Genaro Hernandez and Rafael Ruelas, among others. This is a guy who fought Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley twice, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. He was supremely talented, but was also hugely courageous. He was one of the most popular fighters not only of his generation but of all time. For all his missteps as a promoter and hiccups in his personal life, there is no denying that De La Hoya the boxer was one of the greatest whose ever done it. ![]()
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