David Benavidez has no shortage of HUGE fights on his radar. In an exclusive interview with BoxingScene, Jose Benavidez Sr. makes it clear that David still wants the biggest names at 175lbs including Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez has previously said those are two fights he wants to make as he pursues more titles and major challenges. But there’s another name that could make things very interesting: Andy Ruiz Jr. Jose discusses the possibility of an all-Mexican showdown between Benavidez and the former heavyweight champion, along with David’s plans across multiple divisions. And with a potential Jai Opetaia showdown also building after the pair came face-to-face following Opetaia’s latest victory, Benavidez has some massive options ahead.
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Oscar De La Hoya denied Thursday that his company was ever close to finalizing a deal for Ryan Garcia to challenge WBA super lightweight champion Rolly Romero in a DAZN Pay-Per-View main event April 20.
Garcia expressed surprise and disappointment on social media Thursday because he believed De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions, which represents Romero, had almost completed a deal for them to fight. Instead, Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions announced Thursday that Romero will defend his WBA belt against Isaac Cruz on March 30 as part of PBC’s first Amazon Prime pay-per-view show at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
De La Hoya had a different take than Garcia on Romero’s decision to face Cruz rather than him in his next fight. The retired six-division champion claimed the winner could fight Garcia next during an interview following a press conference Thursday in Phoenix to promote the Jaime Munguia-John Ryder super middleweight fight Saturday night at Footprint Center (DAZN; 8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT).
“Look, you know, fighters are happy, you know, they type happy when they’re, you know, Tweeting or whatever,” De La Hoya told Fight Hub TV when asked if a Romero-Garcia agreement was ever near completion. “I think Rollies fighting Cruz is a great appetizer for what’s to come for Ryan. You know, but the winner of that fight can actually get into the sweepstakes, the Ryan sweepstakes. So, yeah, I’m glad actually they’re fighting because that’s the appetizer for Ryan.”
Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs), of Victorville, California, is a bigger draw than North Las Vegas’ Romero (15-1, 13 KOs) or Mexico City’s Cruz (25-2-1, 17 KOs), both of whom have lost to undefeated knockout artist Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) in Showtime Pay-Per-View main events. Garcia’s fight versus Davis, a seventh-round knockout defeat last April 22 at T-Mobile Arena, produced more than one million pay-per-view buys in the United States and generated $22.8 million in ticket revenue.
The 25-year-old Garcia initially intended to box WBC super lightweight champ Devin Haney in his next fight. After spending some time with Mayweather early this month in the Las Vegas area, Garcia shifted his focus to fighting Romero.
De La Hoya indicated, though, that “nothing whatsoever” led him to believe a deal for Romero-Garcia was imminent based on conversations between Golden Boy president Eric Gomez and Tom Brown, the promoter who negotiates most of Haymon’s PBC deals.
“Eric talked to Tom Brown, I believe, made an offer,” De La Hoya said. “Never heard back, so yeah, that’s the bottom line.”
De La Hoya also dismissed Romero’s harsh remarks about him once negotiations stalled.
“That’s just brainwashing, you know, from their side,” De La Hoya said. “You know, I don’t even think Rollies knew what was going on. I obviously praised Rollies. You know, I wished him all the best. And, you know, now he’s gonna be fighting, you know, ‘Pitbull’ [Cruz] as an appetizer to the main course, and that’s Ryan Garcia.”
De La Hoya still intends for Garcia to headline a DAZN Pay-Per-View show April 20, but he’ll have to explore potential opponents.
“Well, Ryan, we have April 20th,” De La Hoya said. “That’s concrete. We’re there. That’s our date and I’m gonna announce something really, really big when it gets signed.”
A fight against Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) would qualify as “really, really big.” Haney headlined a DAZN Pay-Per-View card last month, when the Oakland native easily outboxed powerful southpaw Regis Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs) to win the WBC 140-pound championship December 9 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Haney castigated Garcia when Garcia abandoned negotiations for their fight to pursue a shot at Romero’s championship. De La Hoya doesn’t think that’ll prohibit British promoter Eddie Hearn, whose Matchroom Boxing works with Haney, from trying to put together Haney-Garcia again.
“No, there’s no ships that have sailed,” De La Hoya said. “Look, I’m telling you, Ryan holds the cards. Devin Haney holds the cards. All these champions are holding cards. And so, we just have to be strategic here. But when I have something in writing, concrete, it’ll be a huge announcement. Because look, at this point, now, every time Ryan fights it’s gonna be a huge announcement.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
