Ryan Garcia Says He Had To Pay DAZN Out Of His Purse

Still smarting from his first loss to Gervonta Davis in a late April, Ryan Garcia is also angry that Golden Boy Promotions made him pay part of a “step aside fee” to broadcaster DAZN for the Davis PPV to happen. So much so, that he sent a demand letter recently through his attorneys to have his promotional deal with Golden Boy ended.

In that demand letter and among other things, ESPN reported that Garcia was obligated to give up approximately 10% or $120,000 of his money out of the $1.25 million that DAZN was paid to allow Showtime Boxing to be the main broadcaster for the Davis-Garcia PPV. In their agreement, DAZN was allowed to offer the Showtime produced show on PPV at discount through their subscribers.

Davis eventually scored a seventh round KO of Garcia in Las Vegas on April 22nd handing the prominent California star his first pro defeat.

As we reported Friday, things escalated from Garcia’s demands to Golden Boy and owner/CEO Oscar De La Hoya filing a lawsuit in Nevada Court in an attempt to continue to enforce their contract with him.

Our insider Dan Rafael obtained the entire filing and posted here on his substack.

The 10 page document filed Friday alleges that Garcia and his attorney Lupe Valencia have been acting in bad faith with them and have actually been trying to negotiate a deal with future fights without them. This, while claiming that the deal with Golden Boy is no longer valid due to multiple violations of it.

Golden Boy subsequently released a statement to the media that said,

“Golden Boy has been proud to have worked with Ryan Garcia for the last several years and to help catapult him to the kind of stardom that led to the biggest pay-per-view event in years just two months ago,” the statement said.

“With this filing, we are seeking to ensure that Ryan and his team will honor the remainder of his contract, a contract that Ryan himself called ‘one of the most lucrative boxing deals for a prospect in the history of the sport.’ Since then, Ryan has moved on to becoming a legitimate contender, and we will continue to present Ryan with the best possible opponents that can eventually lead the way to a world championship and historic legacy.” 

Other Garcia Claims

Another assertion that Garcia made in his demand letter is that his original promotional deal with Golden Boy signed in November 2016 is subject to California’s “seven year rule” or maximum for any personal services contracts. They contend that not only has the agreement been violated by Golden Boy, but that it’s over as of November of this year.

And, they contend the same thing that future hall of famer Canelo Alvarez asserted in his own lawsuit against Golden Boy/De La Hoya in 2020. That is: De La Hoya’s company doing a separate deal with DAZN that isn’t part of the individual promotional deal with the fighter.

Alvarez alleged that De La Hoya and DAZN were not allowed to dictate opponents to him in his Golden Boy deal. Eventually, Canelo was allowed out of his deal with Golden Boy, as part of an agreement to end his litigation.

Finally, James “Bo” Pearl, an attorney for Garcia, sent a response to the Golden Boy lawsuit to the media Friday that read in part,

“Golden Boy is obligated to promote and enhance Ryan Garcia, not malign him on Twitter and file a public, baseless lawsuit against him,” Pearl said in a statement given to Fight Freaks Unite. “Ironically, the lawsuit itself constitutes a breach of the very agreement Golden Boy is seeking to enforce. It is obvious retaliation to a written request by Ryan last week to mediate multiple breaches of contract by Golden Boy.

“Rather than address these serious issues in mediation (as is required under the contract), Golden Boy rushed to court to sue its fighter. To be sure, we will respond to this gamesmanship and fully enforce all of Ryan’s contractual rights against Golden Boy as well as his rights under state and federal law.” 

So, the outside the ring drama continues between Garcia and De La Hoya with the courts and court of public opinion now part of it, as well.