SPORTS SHORTS 57: RYAN GARCIA WANTS ONLY MANNY PACQUIAO OR TANK DAVIS, SAYS HE IS UPSET BY GOLDEN BOY'S DENIAL OF TALKS WITH PACMAN'S CAMP
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 17 Feb 2021
WBC interim lightweight champion Ryan Garcia is dismayed with Golden Boy Promotions chief Oscar De La Hoya who denied that there were talks for a fight with former eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao. De La Hoya negated there were negotiations for Pacquiao vs. Garcia with his pronouncements that it was just a story in Instagram.
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Garcia thinks De La Hoya’s denial is a strike aimed at him, and it appears that he was just making publicity about a Pacquiao fight on Instagram to get social media attention. The 22-year-old Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) feels dejected about De La Hoya's comment, and vehemently denies about clout-chasing. "Here’s the thing. I’m going to clear up the air once and for all,” said Ryan Garcia to Fighthype and quoted in Boxing News 24. “I’m tired of people saying I’m doing these things for clout reasons."
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He said he doesn't need that for clout hunting and he doesn't need anybody to boost himself up. He explained that he did it because of the fans, because they want to see these things, and it gets the people excited. "I really wanted to fight Tank. After the fight [with Luke Campbell], I gave the fans the chance to pick between Haney and Tank, and they said, ‘Tank.’ So I go, and I started to promote the Tank fight because that’s a fight that I want," added Ryan.
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"People got to stop saying that I went to Pacquiao," he focused this time on the senator. “I had no clue about Pacquiao. I didn’t even know Pacquiao was looking to fight anybody. I had no clue what Pacquiao was doing." He said he just mentioned it prior to the Luke Campbell match. "I said about Pacquiao during my promotion on DAZN of my fight against Campbell that would be my dream fight, and that’s what I see after I fight Tank. So it’s not like I was calling him out."
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KingRy revealed that people called him, saying "Hey, this is a possibility." Garcia said the plans for the fight proceeded. “Unless somebody is lying to me, that’s what it is,” Ryan continued. “Then it started moving, and then they started saying, ‘There’s more hope to it.’ So when I released that poster [on Instagram of Pacquiao], they were all excited about it. Oscar was talking to me, ‘I can make this fight happen, blah, blah, blah.’ I’m like, ‘Cool.’ He even came to me, so I don’t understand. I posted it. Obviously, some people said I shouldn’t have posted it. Others say I should have."
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Garcia said the popularity of the proposed fight intensified on social media. “To me, it showed how big that fight is and still is. Over two million likes, it reached a bunch of people, and that’s just the facts, that’s just the numbers. I could lie, everybody could lie, but the numbers don’t lie." He went on that the photo on Instagram with went trending. "My photo, it went crazy; it went nuts, even more than the Tank poster."
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Based on the fans' reactions he kept beating the drums for the fight with Pacquiao or Tank Davis. "So okay, that fight is big too. I continued pushing for the fight, and I don’t care what the order is now. Tank, Pacquiao or Pacquiao, Tank." He doesn’t care what the order of the fight is as long as those are the two fights that he wanted to happen.
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Garcia voiced out that he is not interested in easy fights. “I just had a meeting with Oscar [De La Hoya],” Ryan said. ‘If we can still make the Pacquiao still happen, cool.’ If not, I only wanted to fight Tank or Pacquiao. I wanted to fight Tank first. I didn’t even know about Pacquiao." He doesn't like facing opponents other than the two because he feels like it would be going backwards. "I just want to keep this momentum going."
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Ryan believes Gervonta Davis is a great fighter and Manny Pacquiao is a legend. "I think Tank is a great talent. Why do you think I’m challenging him? Because I think it’s a challenge, I know it’s a challenge. I’m not shying away from the fact that he is a challenge. I’m not shying away from the fact that Pacquiao is a legend and still knock me out; both of them can knock me out, and I can knock them out. That’s just the facts."
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Gervonta Davis, age 26 years, of Baltimore, Maryland, is a four-time world champion in two weight classes. He was the WBA (Regular) lightweight champion since 2019, and the WBA (Super) super featherweight title holder since October 2020. He was a former IBF super featherweight titlist in 2017 and the WBA (Super) super featherweight champ from 2018 to 2019. His professional record consists of a deadly 24 wins, 23 by KOs and no loss no draw, for a 96% KO rate. Davis is ranked as the No. 1 super featherweight by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), No. 2 lightweight by BoxRec and No. 9 by the TBRB.
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