Oscar De La Hoya On Ryan Garcia Dispute- “Want To Do Best For Ryan”

Coming up in December, one of the biggest draws in the U.S. in the smaller weight classes, Ryan Garcia, is set to return to the ring for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. However, if you know anything about the “soap opera” like relationship between the fighter and the former hall of fame fighter, now turned Garcia promoter, the drama and disputes are never far away.

On the heels of his first pro loss in an April TKO against Gervonta Davis in a massive PPV, Golden Boy Boxing has sued Garcia for what they believe is he and his advisor Lupe Valencia trying to circumvent or “go around” Garcia’s agreement with the promotion. Further, earlier this week the two sides met for a mediation session, which is a formal airing of grievances/negotiation to try to resolve a legal dispute outside of court.

This is ongoing while Golden Boy has done the deal with Garcia and Oscar Duarte to battle in their main event December 2nd in Houston, TX.

On our most recent “Big Fight Weekend Preview Podcast,” insider Dan Rafael spoke with De La Hoya on the subject of the dispute with Garcia and the status of their dispute/talks. You can hear the full conversation by clicking below,

“It’s all business. We’re here to work. We’re here to do a job,” De La Hoya told Rafael. “We obviously know that we have a solid contract. We obviously know that we want to do the best for Ryan. We want to make the best fights possible. The mediation was just a place where we can iron things out, and make sure that everybody honors their contract.”

“I strongly feel that everything will be okay. I strongly feel that everything will move forward and just, you know, business as usual”

When Rafael asked about, specifically, about what the mediation accomplished and if they can move forward, De La Hoya added,

It’s gives you a chance to iron out your differences. It gives you the opportunity to find, maybe, find out the facts. It gives you the opportunity to just move on with your career.We both know that Ryan has a great future. We both know that we have a contract. We both know that as promoters that we want the best for Ryan….. We strongly feel that this will be over and done with very soon.”

There are obviously multi-million dollar reasons for the dispute to end and for both to move forward. However, there have been previous, numerous disputes in the Garcia-De La Hoya relationship, including Garcia pulling the plug on July 2021 main event for Golden Boy and taking a leave from the sport citing “mental health issues.”

Still, the fact that Garcia is willing to meet with De La Hoya and still fight a main event for him in the short term without letting the legal proceedings play out has to be viewed as a positive.