Ryan Garcia is prepared to go the distance with his estranged promoter.
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com’s Keith Idec, Golden Boy Promotions has filed a two-count lawsuit accusing Garcia, adviser Guadalupe ‘Lupe’ Garcia and unnamed parties, in the U.S, District Court of Nevada. Golden Boy accused Garcia, et al. of intentional interference with contractual relations and seeks relief pursuant to the Declaratory Judgment Act.
The complaint was filed on Friday, which coincided with a deadline placed by Garcia whose legal team served Golden Boy with a Demand letter. Garcia alleged contractual violations of their current promotional agreement, which was first signed in November 2016 and extended in September 2019.
The development was a latest in a continued fallout between the boxer and the Los Angeles-based promotional outfit Golden Boy founder and chairman Oscar De La Hoya—a Hall of Fame six-division titlist after whose ring moniker the company is named—has taken to social media to openly criticize the boxer in recent weeks, particularly in Garcia’s handling of his knockout loss to Gervonta Davis on April 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Golden Boy is obligated to promote and enhance Ryan Garcia, not malign him on Twitter and file a public, baseless lawsuit against him,” James ‘Bo’ Pearl, a partner with Paul Hastings law firm and Garcia’s litigation counsel, told Boxing Scene in a provided statement. “Ironically, the lawsuit itself constitutes a breach of the very agreement Golden Boy is seeking to enforce.”
The development predates Davis-Garcia, a superfight that was months in the works. The respective teams for Baltimore’s Davis (29-0, 27KOs) and California’s Garcia (23-1, 19KOs) agreed to terms relatively quickly, though there remained unresolved network issues which are noted in Garcia’s Demand Letter and indirectly referenced by Golden Boy in its ten-page complaint.
Davis is a staple of Showtime and its pay-per-view arm while Garcia fought primarily on DAZN through Golden Boy’s five-year-relationship with the sports streaming platform.
Garcia alleges that his September 2019 contract extension allowed him to fight on pay-per-view external to Golden Boy’s deal with DAZN. Such an arrangement—if valid—would predate DAZN’s foray into the PPV market which began last spring.
However, it was insisted that DAZN had to be a part of Davis-Garcia, despite Garcia openly instructing Golden Boy to accept the terms as they were originally presented. Showtime and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC)—to whom Davis has been signed since its first-year launch in 2015—offered a concession that allowed DAZN to carry the PPV on its platform, and who was paid a seven-figure fee—an amount which included $120,000 personally paid by Garcia according to the Demand letter, as first reported by ESPN.com boxing insider Mike Coppinger.
Davis won via seventh-round knockout atop a PPV that proved to be—by far—the most lucrative boxing event since the pandemic. The show generated more than $125,000,000 in combined revenue from PPV, ticket and closed-circuit sales and accompanying sponsorship.
Garcia entered the promotion with the support of his full team, though not as much in the aftermath. De La Hoya, Golden Boy partner Bernard Hopkins and head trainer Joe Goossen were notable absences from the post-fight press conference, where Garcia was accompanied by Valencia, his father Henry Garcia and Golden Boy president Eric Gomez.
Garcia has since parted ways with Goossen after three fights and now trains in the greater Dallas area under Derrick James. The public steps taken by De La Hoya have not all helped the fractured relationship with his company’s top fighter.
De La Hoya was openly critical of Garcia’s handling of his lone career defeat, in response to Garcia’s own public claim that he was treated better by Davis’ team than by his own promoter. Preceding that part of the feud were claims by De La Hoya to the media that he was working with Garcia and his team for his next fight, including the suggestion that a novelty fight with retired former eight-division champ Manny Pacquiao was in the works.
Garcia openly challenged that statement.
“This isn’t happening,” Garcia said on May 31. “I said what I wanted. It’s frustrating… tired of this.”
One day later, Garcia publicly stated that he was treated better by Davis’ team than his own. De La Hoya did not at all take kindly to the suggestion.
“Wtf Ryan It’s been almost two months and [you’re] still crying about the post-presser,” De La Hoya said in a June 1 tweet that has generated more than 3.4 million impressions. “The blame for your loss is on YOU and your “advisor” Lupe. He is the only one who pushed you to accept that insane rehydration clause and that is the reason you lost. Man up. Own that.
“Also, you keep saying “[Tank’s] team offered more support for you” blah blah blah. Bro they SET YOU UP TO LOSE with that rehydration clause and most importantly…AL HAYMON DIDNT EVEN SHOW UP THE ENTIRE WEEK. Actually, he NEVER shows up. How’s that for “support”???”
The last noted direct correspondence between Garcia and De La Hoya came later that day.
“Weren’t you just promoting the fake Pac fight that I already told you I’m not accepting,” Garcia asked De La Hoya. “You really think [I’mma] fall for that bull twice?”
The matter has since become one for their legal teams. Garcia submitted his Demand letter which carried the promise of a sought July 10 mediation if Golden Boy did not properly respond to his breach of contract allegations. Golden Boy instead chose to enforce its own legal battle.
“It is obvious retaliation to a written request by Ryan last week to mediate multiple breaches of contract by Golden Boy,” noted Pearl. “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.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox