MMA Hour host Ariel Helwani tried to be the voice of reason as Ryan Garcia and boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya engaged in a war of words on social media.
Garcia was incredibly critical of his former team after losing by 7th round TKO to Gervonta “Tank” Davis in April. Garcia attended the post-fight press event without members of his coaching staff and even revealed that a double agent in his camp was giving information to Davis before their clash at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. As a result, Garcia broke up with coach Joe Goosen and continued to publicly criticize his team who he allegedly walked away from after losing to Davis.
“I lost, I saw everyone leave me, and then I have to see who is really there for me,” Garcia told fitness influencer Bradley Martin. “After the fight, nobody was there for me, like, my team, but didn’t come to the press conference and do nothing, you know what I mean? I was left with someone who betrayed me at camp, and they didn’t even try to take care of me after the fight. It was like, I was left with that. The worst thing was, “Team Tank really cares about me more than my team.”
More than two months after suffering his first career defeat, Ryan Garcia has stayed true to himself, much to the chagrin of boxing legend and Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya took to Twitter, stormed Garcia, and told him to take responsibility for the loss and the consequences that followed.
Oscar De La Hoya has heard enough of Ryan Garcia’s complaints, and Ariel Helwani is trying to intervene
@WtfRyanGarcia It’s been almost 2 months and you’re still crying over the post button? The blame for your loss lies with you and your “consultant” Luby. He is the cause of your loss. man up own it.”
De La Hoya wasn’t quite done, adding a follow-up tweet that read, Also, you keep saying ‘Tank team give you more support’ blah blah blah. Bro, they made you lose with the rehydration clause and most importantly…the hemon didn’t even show up the whole week. Actually, he never showed up. HOW This is for “support”???”
The public quarrel prompted Ariel Halawani to intervene as the voice of reason, suggesting that both parties take their differences and discuss them behind closed doors like professionals.
“It’s a terrible sight to quarrel publicly with your biggest star,” Helwani said chirp as a reply. “No matter who is right or wrong, keep this in the house.”
Ryan Garcia is now 23-1 after losing to “Tank” Davis. García later admitted that grueling weight reduction matched with a hydration clause in the fight contract ultimately led to him entering the contest with a less than 100% win. Garcia is now eyeing a potential move to ultra-lightweight in an effort to avoid cutting the exhaust going forward.