Oscar De La Hoya is already in the planning stages for Ryan Garcia’s fight next February during Super Bowl weekend after his November 18th bout two months from now.
Ryan will have the final say for his opponent next February, so De La Hoya won’t be able to get crazy without him rejecting his choice.
Golden Boy promoter De La Hoya states that he wants to potentially match Ryan (23-1,19 KOs) against one of these fighters:
- Teofimo Lopez
- Devin Haney
- Adrien Broner
De La Hoya likes the idea of Ryan fighting the 34-year-old former four-division world champion Broner because he thinks the press conferences would be interesting. Ryan would take a lot of criticism from fans if he fought Broner because he’s considered shot.
The name that is missing from that list is Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero, the WBA light welterweight champion. It was thought that Ryan wanted to face Rolly because he’s an easy mark. However, Rolly is injured, and when he does come back, he needs to defend his WBA title against his mandatory Ohara Davies, or else he’ll be stripped.
“There’s a huge weekend, Super Bowl weekend [February 10 & 11th], and we’re talking to some people, and I feel the only fighter who could headline such an event is Ryan Garcia on Super Bowl weekend, which would be incredible. It would be amazing,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fight Hub TV.
Putting Ryan in with WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez would be viewed as De La Hoya feeding him to the wolves, and people would say he’s cashing out before Kingry leaves the company.
“Obviously, it depends on the opponent. It has to be for a world title,” said De La Hoya. “It has to be against a huge name, a big name. So we’ll see what plays out, but Ryan and Teo would be a lot of fun.
“I don’t know. You have fighters like Haney and Rolly. It’s funny because you also have a fighter in Broner. Him and Broner would be. Imagine that press conference. Imagine that fight there.
“Broner is still a live dog in this business. It’s very interesting. Right now, Ryan is still in the driver’s seat. Even though he did lose, he’s still in the driver’s seat.”
Broner would be a joke because he’s looked so poor in the last ten years, particularly since 2017.
“We’re targeting mid-November,” said De La Hoya when asked about Ryan Garcia’s return to action. “We’re having ongoing discussions with his team, and we’re having ongoing discussions with DAZN. We’re nailing down the venue and opponents, and then we’ll hopefully announce very soon.
“Texas, Arizona is a good. There’s a strong market there. I think Valdez & Navarrete just fought there. There’s a tremendous fan base there. Wherever Ryan goes, he’ll fill up an arena.
“All we do as promoters is try to navigate what’s best for his career so he can get to the top to the elite top. So all the moves we’re making are for what’s best for his career.
“We had a little bump in the road, but it’ll be smoothed out. All I want as a promoter is what’s best for Ryan. He’s coming off making 30 million dollars. Canelo received the biggest contract in sports history.
“I try to look out for fighters as much as I can. I want the best for them. I want the very best for their careers. We know how to do it. Ryan Garcia, he’s right there. He’s a bonafide, true star in boxing.
“He’s not a Youtuber. He just did 1.2 million homes on pay-per-view with Gervonta Davis for a reason. So he’s back on top, and yes, he’s coming off a loss, but you’re as good as your last fight.
“So if we get him back on a winning streak, he’ll be back on top of the world. We haven’t sat down and talked about his next move. I’m sure shortly we will because time is of the essence. Mid-November is coming up.
“We want to nail everything down, go on sale, announce the fight. So I’m pretty sure we’ll be talking. Hopefully, next week,” said De La Hoya.
