Oscar De La Hoya Focused On Counseling (And Enabling) Ryan Garcia

When Oscar De La Hoya isn’t “clapping back” at the boxing rivals living rent-free in his head, he’s chop-blocking for Ryan Garcia– a multiple-time disgraced fighter and one-time bitter social media sparring partner who, not too long ago, went on a racist tirade (while sitting out a suspension due to popping dirty for performance enhancing drugs in his last bout with Devin Haney).

Not too long ago, if you recall, De La Hoya and Garcia were at each other’s throats, with lawsuits and counter suits raging and angry, hurt words tossed at one another. Garcia was beyond eager to be done with Oscar and Oscar, despite his promotional company’s push to legally enforce Garcia’s contractual commitment to Golden Boy Promotions, seemed sick of having Ryan around.

Things have changed now and Oscar is fully on Team Garcia.

It just so happens that the change looks to have coincided with financial necessity. Garcia is the only fighter left in the Golden Boy stable who can draw real money without having it come from the pajama pockets of Saudi sugar daddy Turki Alalshikh.

So, PEDs be damned. Racism be damned (Hell, Ryan Garcia’s “F**k all nig***rs” on Twitter/X is not any worse than the language Oscar’s own company has used in their internal emails). Oscar is now Ryan’s best buddy.

“I just had him in my office 30 minutes ago. Big plans for him coming back,” De La Hoya told FightHubTV, referring to Ryan Garcia, who should be sitting out a suspension until April of 2025. “Obviously, we have to deal with this frivolous lawsuit that they [Team Haney] slapped on us. But that’s all it is. It’s noise. That’s all it is.

“How can you sue somebody that beat the crap out of you? It doesn’t make sense. No. What I would do is call that fighter out back in the ring and beat his a**…I don’t think [he’ll do that] because I believe Devin Haney is a shot fighter,”

Oscar is referring to the lawsuit filed by Devin Haney last week against Garcia and Golden Boy for the April 20 debacle involving Garcia’s alleged intentional missed weight and use of banned substances and Golden Boy’s alleged failure to live up to the financial terms of the fight contract.

Earlier in the week, a frustrated Golden Boy took to social media to address the several recent claims, re-brought to light by the Haney lawsuit, of his company not delivering on money owed to fighters.

“Enough is enough. Every fighter who has worked with Golden Boy has always been paid exactly what they are owed and given all documents they were entitled to. Period. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply false. If the Haneys are still having trouble understanding their contract, we will be happy to walk them through it, again.”

By Oscar’s own account, Garcia and Golden Boy are already looking past that legal action and focusing on Garcia’s future– a future which could even include a Devin Haney rematch if the price were right.

There’s also the possibility of an exhibition match for Garcia in Japan, which would, of course, completely shove a big middle finger in the face of the sport’s governing bodies and the concept of accountability in boxing

“First things first. We’ve got to get Ryan back to the place where he belongs, and that’s in the gym,” De La Hoya told FightHubTV. “I saw him right now. He’s in great spirits. He’s doing awesome and he’s focused. What has happened in the past, he’s learned. He’s grown as a young man.

“I gave him a good nice speech about my experiences and how I’ve been through hell and back. I’m a man with the experience that can tell this young man, ‘It’s okay.’”

And if anyone can serve as the moral compass for troubled youth, it’s Oscar. Ahem.