Ryan Garcia has been at odds with his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions, but now his ire is directly directed at the typically neutral Bernard Hopkins. During Thursday’s press conference for his fight against Oscar Duarte on Saturday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, the 25-year-old Garcia gave Hopkins a piece of his mind on everything he wasn’t feeling.
Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) also claimed that his promoters want him to lose to Mexico’s Duarte (26-1-1, 21 KOs), a Golden Boy client.
This is the second time Golden Boy has been at odds with its star clients after famously losing Canelo Alvarez after his disputes with Oscar de la Hoya. Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions officially parted ways in November 2020 after Alvarez’s lawsuit for breach of contract against Golden Boy and streaming service DAZN was settled.
Ryan Garcia’s Clapback
“You know, one thing that’s been on my heart is the statements that Bernard made, where he’ll decide if I’m gonna finish or if I should continue boxing after this fight,” Garcia said at the final press conference for this weekend’s fight against Oscar Duarte.
“He don’t decide that. My coach does, my team does, everybody that, you know, grinds wit’ me day in and day out, that’s who decides, and ultimately God decides. Not him. Nobody was telling him when to stop boxing. You know, he stopped boxing at what, 45? So, kudos to him. But he don’t determine that.”
The Hall of Famer fought until he was 51, retiring in 2016 after Joe Smith Jr. knocked him out of the ring in the eighth round at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Hopkins gave his opinion in a couple of interviews that made Garcia feel some way.
In an interview with Fight Hype, Hopkins was critical of Garcia’s future when he said, “I will see how Ryan looks and then make my personal decision on whether he should fight again.
“There’s one thing about this sport that I love and that’s why I talk so passionately about it, and some take it wrong and I don’t care. I’m not apologetic, I stand on what I say: Boxing will call your bluff. And one thing about this, it won’t be a secret, it won’t be in the dark. It will be in the light.”
The Big Problem With Golden Boy
On an earlier interview when Garcia was asked about those comments, he sounded off on Hopkins.
“What does he mean, ‘I’ll make the decision?'” Garcia said on The Last Stand podcast. “He ain’t gonna make s**t. He can’t make ** about me. The crazy thing is I’mma box my ass off … for a team that don’t even believe in me, but damn they’ll collect that money that I’m making them. They collect that $6 million, though, but you don’t know if I should box again? But you made that money off that [Davis] fight, though. Yeah, shut up.
“Watch, when I win, I’mma gonna look at them, ‘Bro, don’t even mess with me.’ Don’t even mess with me. I’m so sharp right now, I have no worries that I’m going to look great, amazing. They’ll be like a salty ex, like, ‘f—, I wish I stayed with him. I wish I was nice to him. Why didn’t I speak better to him.’ … Shut up.”
Garcia’s relationship with Golden Boy will not last long, but with the public way that Garcia is beefing with leadership like Canelo once did, the real question is whether more fighters will jump ship.
