LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya had his antagonistic comments written down on a sheet of paper Thursday.
The Hall-of-Fame fighter criticized Gervonta Davis’ team for being overprotective of the undefeated knockout artist. De La Hoya thinks Davis’ handlers lack confidence in him, which is why “The Golden Boy” believes they insisted on a catch weight of 136 pounds for his 12-round fight against Ryan Garcia on Saturday night, a weigh-in two hours later than usual Friday afternoon and a rehydration restriction for a second-day weigh-in late Saturday morning.
Neither Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) nor Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) can weigh more than 146 pounds at their second weigh-in, but both boxers can add as much weight as they want from the time their second weigh-in ends until they enter the ring at T-Mobile Arena. De La Hoya nevertheless stressed that restricting the taller Garcia at weigh-ins on back-to-back days proves that there is insecurity within Davis’ team.
“You know, as someone who spent most of his early life in the ring, I know firsthand what it takes to compete at the highest level,” De La Hoya said during their final press conference at KA Theatre inside MGM Grand. “And this is the highest level. I look at Ryan and I know he’s ready. I look at Ryan’s team, and they know he’s ready. I look at Tank, and he looks ready. But when I look at Tank’s team’s actions throughout the whole promotion, I am left to wonder, do they really think this guy is ready?
“Catch weights and rehydration clauses, late-afternoon weigh-ins, all of these small, petty requirements points to a team that looks to protect their fighter. And why would they protect their fighter unless they don’t think maybe he’s not ready for this moment? I really believe that Tank’s team is worried he’s going to lose. And when you’re a fighter, nothing feels worse than your team not believing in you.”
De La Hoya then commended the confident fighter his company promotes for agreeing to all the stipulations Davis’ representatives required to finalize a deal for what could emerge as boxing’s biggest pay-per-view event in the United States this year (8 p.m. EDT; 5 p.m. PDT; $84.99).
“And then you look at Ryan,” De La Hoya said, “who is so hungry, so willing, so ready for this stage, that he simply said yes to every request, no matter what it was. That is a confident fighter. That is a fighter whose team has his back. That is a fighter who is ready. And it’s why you’re going to see Ryan come out as the new face of boxing on Saturday night.”
Leonard Ellerbe was bothered by De La Hoya’s comments and lambasted his company’s promotional rival when it was his turn to speak Thursday. Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, has worked with Davis again throughout this promotion following a one-fight absence once Davis’ contract with Floyd Mayweather’s company expired after his sixth-round knockout of Rolly Romero last May 28 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“The talk is done,” Ellerbe said. “It’s go time this Saturday, biggest fight in boxing. And Oscar, those comments you made, first off, we believe in Tank a thousand percent, a thousand percent. So, when it comes to you, you have no room to talk about anything. We’ve been the ‘A’ side of this situation, and that’s how the ‘A’ side carries itself. OK?”
De La Hoya promptly responded by questioning their motivation for inserting the rehydration clause in their contracts.
“Like I said, you been asleep under the f------ wheel for many, many years,” Ellerbe said. “That’s exactly why we took all your f------ fighters and Floyd beat ‘em all, while you been asleep under the f------- wheel. OK? And it’s gonna be no different come this Saturday night. Tank Davis by KO, like I been saying, and it might be early. Thank you.”
Ellerbe referred to various fighters once represented by Golden Boy Promotions joining forces with Al Haymon, who launched Premier Boxing Champions early in 2015, and one of Haymon’s initial promotional partners, former Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer. De La Hoya reached a settlement agreement with Haymon and Schaefer in December 2014, when numerous fighters Haymon managed – including Deontay Wilder, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman and Leo Santa Cruz – parted ways with Golden Boy.
De La Hoya later filed an antitrust lawsuit against Haymon, which a federal judge dismissed in January 2017.
Ellerbe was harsher while discussing De La Hoya with Showtime’s trio of Brian Campbell, Ariel Helwani and former NBA forward Stephen Jackson immediately after the press conference.
“First off, he’s a f------- clown,” Ellerbe said. “Let’s start with that. Let’s start with that. Is this f------ clown – again, I know why. I know why, because it’s the sh!t he’s been doing all these years that’s got his brain f----- up. OK? For starters, is he forgetting that he made Floyd Mayweather fight at 154? Floyd had never fought at that weight class before. And then he f------- shrunk down to fight Manny Pacquiao. Does that make any sense, based upon the comments that he just made?”
Campbell joked that De La Hoya has hyperbolic tendencies, but Ellerbe wasn’t in a laughing mood regarding De La Hoya, whom Mayweather beat by split decision in their 12-round junior middleweight fight in May 2007 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“But I ain’t the one to play with,” Ellerbe said. “I ain’t the one to play with. And listen, this is the one fight, and anybody who know me, I’ve always said [De La Hoya was] the one fight that I’m glad that Floyd beat his ass, that was the most important fight in his career. And I tell Floyd that all the time, all the time. He’s the one guy, still to this day, both of us, we don’t like that motherf-----. We play the role. Business is business, but at the end of the day, we don’t like that motherf-----.”
Ellerbe emphasized, too, that, in spite of what De La Hoya said during the press conference, the 24-year-old Garcia’s promoter didn’t truly want him to fight Davis at this point in his career.
“This dude’s a clown,” Ellerbe said. “Again, check this out. We paid him a few pennies to do some work, and the whole time, we pimped his ass the whole time. We took each and every one of his fighters, and who he thought was his fighters, and we beat ‘em one – when I say we, meaning Floyd – beat ‘em one by one by one by one. Walked through ‘em all, while he was asleep under the wheel.
“And he looks up and the fighters who he thought were his fighters, they on this side, with us, because he been asleep under the wheel the whole time. Don’t talk that slick sh!t to me. The promotion is the promotion, but all that, no, bro, we don’t get down like that over here.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.