Bernard Hopkins says he and Oscar De La Hoya chose not to stand with Ryan Garcia at the post-fight press conference because they didn’t want to make it a “circus” after his loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Boxing fans on social media have criticized De La Hoya & Hopkins for not with Ryan during the post-fight press conference. They feel that they abandoned him.
Hopkins states that Golden Boy president Eric Gomez was by Ryan’s side during the press conference, so he and Oscar weren’t needed. Bernard says he didn’t want to make it a “s**t show” by being there because the fight had no controversy, and the outcome was clear.
“First of all, we had Eric Gomez, the president of Golden Boy, and second it wasn’t going to be about Oscar and Bernard Hopkins,” said Bernard Hopkins to Fighthype on why he and Oscar De La Hoya didn’t attend Ryan Garcia’s post-fight press conference last Saturday night after his loss to Gervonta Davis.
“The focus was Ryan being there with Tank, and the fans being there. What else could we say then before the fight? I’m not going to turn anything into a circus because if they’re saying that I was going to put testosterone [on Tank].
“They’re trying to come up with something now because they realize that I didn’t try and touch him [Gervonta] in a negative or aggressive way. You hear me saying that he’s got to watch the edge, or they got to come with the cream. It’s a conspiracy.
“If they felt that way then, I don’t know if it’s over with them. I don’t know if they want to gloat and stick their chest out. My whole thing is this is Ryan’s time; it’s his time. If they went that far in extent, now that it’s over with and I let my guard down? Absolutely not.
“So we had representation. Eric Gomez and other reps from Golden Boy handling the business. It’s not about us. We did our job. Will we promote after the fight? There’s nothing to talk about.
“That’s over then. When the fights are over, to me, that’s over. There’s no draw, no controversy. It’s clear who lost and who won. It’s not going to turn into a s**t show with one or two people on either side. So a lot of times, it’s best not to say anything. You say a lot when you don’t.
“Sometimes you got to answer the call. This situation? No. It was already orchestrated. The fight being over, heading to the dressing room,” said Hopkins.
