‘Get the job at hand done’: DLH urges Garcia to focus on fight with Duarte

Much of the build-up to Ryan Garcia’s next fight has centered around his issues with his promoter, and Oscar De La Hoya says he legitimately expressed concerned.

Following the latest dust up between Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya and his star fighter Ryan Garcia, De La Hoya follows up on his deleted social media post questioning the mental state of Garcia heading into this weekend. Here’s some excerpts of what he had to say on that subject.

De La Hoya on expressing concern about Garcia’s mental health on social media

“As a friend, as a person, as a promoter, as everything — I mean, ‘cause I don’t know, sometimes I think ‘that’s not him.’ It’s like ‘What’s going on? Why are we beefing? It’s like, I don’t understand. Maybe it’s the nerves, but he said it himself out of his mouth, all the issues he’s been having, this and that. So I don’t know, I’m just concerned.

“Focus on this fight, focused on this training and get the job at hand done. So it’s just concerning. It’s a genuine concern.”

On if there’s any possibility of them continuing a business relationship given how tumultuous things have been between them

“Business is business, brother. That’s all it is.”

On potentially matching Garcia against the winner between Devin Haney and Regis Prograis

“Yeah, that’s a great one. I’m going to be looking at that fight very carefully. I think Prograis is a hell of a fighter, I think Haney is a superb talent, and I think, yeah, possibly the winner can get it on with Ryan next. Hopefully. Maybe. We’ll see.”