The tug of war between Ryan Garcia and Oscar De La Hoya continues around who the super lightweight star should fight next.
The Hall of Fame fighter turned promoter suggested Wednesday that a scrap between Garcia and Golden Boy’s newly signed, former 140-pound unified titlist Jose Ramirez was looking like it was getting close to happening.
On Thursday, Garcia knocked out the notion.
“No Ramirez,” Garcia wrote on social media. “Sorry that’s just not going to happen right now. Let me make that clear.”
The exchange is the latest chapter of the back and forth saga between the promoter and fighter.
Immediately after knocking out Oscar Duarte in December, Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) called for a fight against Rolando Romero (15-1, 13 KOs). Shortly after, he switched his stance to a clash against Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) and publicly instructed De La Hoya and company to get a deal done.
Negotiations seemed to be moving along well, so much so that Garcia shut down Romero as even a possibility and De La Hoya declared a deal would get done with Haney. But soon after socializing with Romero promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas, Garcia called for an end of negotiations for a Haney fight and instead switched his attention back to Romero. The decision prompted De La Hoya to tell Mayweather to f— off.
Garcia and De La Hoya haven’t been seeing eye to eye ever since the 25-year-old was knocked out by Gervonta Davis in April.
Both sides have since sued each other, and legal matters are ongoing.
The ongoing battle led Garcia to suggest yet another new opponent on Thursday.
“Ryan Garcia vs Oscar De La Hoya at this point,” he wrote with a shrugging emoji.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.