Oscar De La Hoya is happy with the progress made in a combat involving his firm’s greatest star.
The Corridor of Fame former six-division champion and head of Golden Boy Promotions supplied a standing replace on the deliberate Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis-Ryan Garcia blockbuster occasion optimistically eyed for mid-April. De La Hoya noticed his calls for met when Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) workers supplied Golden Boy and Garcia with a contract supply, containing particulars surrounding what has change into probably the most anticipated combat of the 2023 schedule.
“April fifteenth, Ryan Garcia versus Tank Davis. It’s happening,” De La Hoya revealed in an on-air DAZN interview throughout Golden Boy’s first present of 2023 this previous Saturday in Inglewood, California.
Observe-up affirmation illustrated his optimism of delivering the occasion.
“I’m going to say 100%,” De La Hoya said of his perception that Davis-Garcia makes its technique to the boxing calendar sooner relatively than later.”
Baltimore’s Davis (28-0, 26KOs) at present holds the WBA ‘Common’ title at light-weight, the place Garcia nonetheless technically campaigns, although the bout—as soon as finalized, will include a 136-pound contracted weight restrict.
Garcia (23-0, 19KOs) fought one division north in every of his final two begins. The unbeaten rising star from Victorville, California formally weighed 138.8 kilos in his twelve-round win over Emmanuel Tagoe final April 9 in San Antonio, Texas and was 140 kilos for his sixth-round knockout of Javier Fortuna final July 16 in Los Angeles.
Davis has fought simply as soon as above the 135-pound restrict throughout his rise to superstardom. It got here in June 2021, when Davis was 139 ¾ kilos forward of his eleventh-round stoppage of unbeaten Mario Barrios to win the WBA ‘Common’ junior welterweight title.
The 28-year-old southpaw has spent every of his final three fights at light-weight.
Most not too long ago, Davis earned a stoppage of unbeaten Hector Luis Garcia at first of the ninth spherical atop a January 7 Showtime Pay-Per-View occasion from Capital One Area in Washington, D.C. The sold-out present registered a record-breaking stay gate, with ticket gross sales exceeding the $5,000,000 mark. It has change into a recurring theme for Davis, who has change into among the many sport’s greatest box-office attracts.
Davis and Garcia each get pleasure from mainstream enchantment, together with being unbeaten boxers within the prime of their respective careers. The star energy between the 2 together with their very own demand for a head-on collision pressured their groups to discover a technique to work collectively to provide what figures to be a can’t miss industrial success.
PBC and Golden Boy have a sordid historical past together with separate community platforms—Davis fights totally on Showtime and its PPV arm, whereas Garcia fights on DAZN by means of Golden Boy’s output cope with the streaming platform. These issues have been sorted; Showtime will take the lead in distributing and producing the PPV, which will probably be additionally obtainable for buy on DAZN.
All that’s left is for the final remaining minor particulars to be agreed upon, at which level a proper announcement can reveal the date and site for the superfight.
“We despatched the contract again. We made the modifications,” famous De La Hoya. “We’re simply ready again for a solution however I really feel very optimistic the it’s going to occur.”
Jake Donovan is a senior author for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox