Via Jim Calfa: Oscar De La Hoya said he will meet Ryan Garcia this Tuesday to discuss his future and the possibility of fighting against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz.
De La Hoya said 23-year-old Pitbull Cruz (23-2-1, 16 KOs) is the fight Ryan wants, and the boxing public loves to watch it.
Cruz is about to have a fifth round knockout win over Yuriorkis Gamboa on April 16 and he has expressed interest in playing Ryan next.
So unless De La Hoya isn’t serious about wanting to do the Pitbull Cruz fight for Ryan, it will be an easy fight for him to put together.
De La Hoya says yes “Many choices” ready for Ryan to fight next, but he doesn’t say who those fighters are.
It is believed that De La Hoya is eager to take on Ryan against former IBF featherweight champion Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr.
He was about to lose to WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney in 12 rounds last December, and he didn’t have any punching power for Ryan to worry about.
Jojo, 29, is arguably a safer fight for Ryan than placing him with Pitbull Cruz, which would put King Ry in a position where he has to deal with his strong inner game .
It would be an unfavorable situation for Ryan Garcia if he were to fight Jojo Diaz because even if he did beat him, fans would point out that he was defeated by Devin Haney last December. Diaz has only won one of his three previous matches.
We’ve pursued this route before, with De La Hoya saying he wanted to match Ryan against Isaac Cruz in January, but negotiations never started.
Instead, Ryan took on little-known 33-year-old opponent Emmanuel Tagoe on April 9, and fans were unimpressed with King Ry’s opponent and performance.
Ryan won the 12-round unanimous decision with scores of 119-108, 118-109 and 119-108.
“I will be meeting with Ryan Garcia tomorrow to talk about his future,” Oscar De La Hoya told. media on Monday in Los Angeles.
“We care a lot about Isaac Cruz, and that’s the fight he wants“De La Hoya continued about 23-year-old Ryan Garcia’s next contest.
“But there are a lot of options out there, but it’s the fight that people want to see. Why not make it happen? All of us for it.
“Ryan Garcia needs this fight here [against Emmanuel Tagoe] after 15 months of layoffs to shake off the cobwebs. Now, we move on to bigger and better things,’ De La Hoya said.
Now that Ryan’s catch-up fight is over, he should be ready to take on the next Pitbull Cruz.
Oscar, while I understand your desperation to show off @RyanGarcia you are doing the LICE on his behalf as his promoter, do you think posing a lie like this will impress him? https://t.co/I7y01mmD25
– Sean Gibbons (@KnuckleheadSean) January 6, 2022
