Oscar De La Hoya Understands That Ryan Garcia Isn’t Ready for Gervonta Davis, Claims Eddie Hearn

Despite Ryan Garcia’s desire to fight Gervonta Davis, Eddie Hearn continues to bill Devin Haney as the perfect opponent for the WBC Interim lightweight champion. Haney holds the WBC lightweight title and Garcia’s interim spot mandates them to lock horns. However, Ryan Garcia wants to test the WBA titleholder, as he vows to knock out ‘Tank’ in two rounds.

Following his TKO win over Luke Campbell on January 2, ‘KingRy’ called out Gervonta Davis and later verbally confirmed the fight on Mike Tyson’s Hotboxin podcast. But Haney’s promoter Hearn doesn’t consider Garcia to be ready for ‘Tank’ and claims Oscar De La Hoya (Ryan Garcia’s promoter) knows it.

Speaking with Boxing Social, the Matchroom CEO said, “You can’t criticize Ryan Garcia for swerving Devin Haney. He’s calling out Tank Davis. Oscar De La Hoya, Roberto Diaz, Eric Gomez. They know boxing, and they know that was a big risk fighting Luke Campbell.

“In the second round, [when Garcia was knocked down] they were probably thinking, ‘Oh my life, what’s going on here?’ But they also know that Ryan Garcia isn’t ready for Tank.”

Meanwhile, he touts Devin Haney to replace Gervonta Davis from the mix. But he believes that Garcia will continue to avoid the fight considering his history with ‘The Dream’ in amateurs. Garcia and Haney have fought 6 times in the amateurs, bagging 3 wins each. That said, ‘The Dream’ beat ‘KingRy’ in their latest encounter.

Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney continues their triangle tale

According to Eddie Hearn, Ryan Garcia might not want to risk his unbeaten record against Devin Haney, as he already is aware of Haney’s capabilities. However, he claims to have spoken with the WBC lightweight champion and is trying to stage him against Garcia in early Summer.

Even though Garcia wants to fight Davis, Hearn can hope for WBC to mandate the lightweight title unification clash. In that case, Garcia can either vacate his Interim title or accept the fight. Since he recently earned the spot, he may not vacate it. Thus, Hearn and Haney can still dream for the fight.

“Hopefully, [it’s] Devin Haney, which [Garcia] doesn’t seem to want to talk about. It is going to be mandated by the WBC,” said Eddie Hearn.

The Matchroom promoter added, “That’s the fight. But Devin, I spoke to him the other day, and I said, ‘April, Ryan Garcia, that’s what we’re hoping for.’ ‘No, no chance, no chance.’ I mean, obviously, they’ve got history from the amateurs. Maybe Devin knows better than me, and maybe Ryan Garcia doesn’t want to fight Devin Haney? But it’s a wonderful fight.”

While Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, and Ryan Garcia keep spinning the thread between them, Teofimo Lopez can cleanse the doubts. ‘Take Over’ Lopez can enter the ride and cement four unbeaten young champions against each other. While it’s still not confirmed, 2021 might make it happen and turn out as one of the best years in boxing.