Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe came flying on the attack on social media in reacting to Oscar De La Hoya talking about Ryan Garcia being on equal footing with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis when it comes to the negotiations.
De La Hoya said this week that BOTH Ryan and Tank are A-sides, and it would be “tricky” trying to negotiate a fight. He also said that Tank only brings in 100,000 buys on pay-per-view and that he absolutely needs Ryan to bring in the big numbers.
What De LaHoya was basically saying is that Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) is the real star, and Tank Davis, is the lesser guy. Ellerbe says Ryan’s gate numbers in his last three fights brought in a combined “$3,525,850.00.”
What’s unclear is if De La Hoya is seriously interested in making the Ryan Garcia vs. Tank Davis fight because it’s one that could wreck the career of his young fighter.
Ryan is making good money fighting old guys on DAZN, and it doesn’t seem to matter that his opponents are poor. Boxing fans on social media tune in to watch Ryan anyway, and can’t get enough of the 23-year-old Southern California native.
If De La Hoya feeds Ryan to Tank Davis this early in his career, he could sabotage the money that he’s bringing in. The guy is like an oil well that is pumping out crude oil faithfully without any effort on De La Hoya’s part.
The only thing Oscar needs to do is not mess things up by putting Ryan in with a fighter that has actual talent like Tank Davis. It’s arguably still too early to make the Gervonta vs. Ryan fight anyway because it’ll be much bigger in three to five years.
De La Hoya needs to pacify Ryan by letting him know the fight with Tank can’t get made right now because they’re playing hardball. Ryan will then shut his yap, and De La Hoya can continue feeding him old guys like Javier Fortuna and Emmanuel Tagoe.
“Look, everybody has an argument about who’s the A-side and who’s the B-side. As Ryan’s promoter, he does sell, and he is popular,” said Oscar De La Hoya to Fighthype.
“With the right dance partner, you can create a mega-fight, and that happens to be with Gervonts Davis and vice versa. You know, Gervonta Davis can get on pay-per-view, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s selling hundreds and thousands of homes.
“I know the numbers. I know what they are. They’re not past 100,000. I know that for a fact. So, does he [Gervonta] want to continue fighting on the low-level pay-per-views, or does he want to create a mega event with Ryan Garcia because that’s the only dance partner he can create a special event with. So, it’s a matter of choices,” said De La Hoya.
We are going to see if the all the media, call him on the bullshit. Not hard to make a deal if you are really trying to make a deal for a big fight.
— Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) July 28, 2022
Ryan says he wants to fight Tank, he’s told everybody that and I believe him. He needs to get his promoter in line ASAP, this is a terrible look for him!!
— Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) July 28, 2022
Ryan’s last 3 fights, his live gates combined don’t add up to $3,525,850.00, another irrefutable fact. He’s a good dude and terrific fighter and has a huge following also. I think he brings tremendous value to make a big fight but that nonsense his promoter is saying is crazy💯
— Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) July 28, 2022
Oscar’s assertion that Tank and Ryan are equal is all bullshit and anyone who can add knows that. In Ryan’s last fight at the live gate he grossed $1.126,155.00 and in that same bldg Tank grossed $3.525,855.00. That’s less than a 3rd, how is that equal? 🤦🏽♂️
— Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) July 28, 2022
Tank has done substantially more than 100k buys in EVERY one of his PPV fights. Oscar is trying to do everything he can to NOT make a fight and it’s time to expose the facts. This is a terrible look for Ryan and his promoter.
— Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) July 28, 2022
Oscar is a lying piece of shit, to prove it we will put up $5mil to his $1mil or whatever he can scrape up. We will present the info to an arbitrator who then can determine the winner and the winner donates the money to a charity of their choice. The public can see who’s lying! pic.twitter.com/uuyDRtfB5v
— Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) July 28, 2022