By: Sean Crose
“This is long overdue,” Oscar De La Hoya said on Fight Hype Friday morning, “but I had to get the legal facts in order before clapping back.” The Hall of Fame fighter turned high end promoter then went on to address a lawsuit filed against his company, Golden Boy Promotions, as well as its fighter, Ryan Garcia by the team of Devin Haney, who Garcia surprisingly battered in a pay per view battle back in April. That fight, however, was not without controversy as Garcia tested positive for the banned substance ostarine as recently as the day of the fight. Garcia was subsequently suspended from the sport in New York and the fight ruled a no-contest.
“A few weeks ago the Haney’ s filed a lawsuit in the state of New York,” De La Hoya said, “against my fighter Ryan Garcia for battery, fraud and breach of contract. The Haneys also named my company, Golden Boy Promotions in the lawsuit because they want a full accounting of Devin’s fight against Ryan. They want to see my books. They don’t believe the fact that Garcia-Haney only did a little over three hundred thousand homes, and they’ve been paid what they are owed. They want more money that doesn’t exist.”
Suffice to say, the numbers for the Garcia-Haney bout are surprisingly low if De La Hoya is correct here. The former multi-division titlist, however, argued that the numbers essentially were what they were. “We have told you over and over that this fight just didn’t sell,” De La Hoya continued, addressing Haney’s father Bill directly. “Those are the facts. Number two, you guys are suing Ryan Garcia for battery? Do you know your son Devin is a professional fighter, right, based on battering other opponents?”
De La Hoya still wasn’t done. “And now, Bill, you’re going to say that Ryan was doped up for the fight. The traces of ostarine were so minute that professionals have said it didn’t even matter and didn’t make a difference. The truth is simple – that your son couldn’t block the left hook (of Garcia’s), he couldn’t stay on his feet with those nasty Uggs he was wearing, and he couldn’t handle Ryan Garcia. Point Blank.”
De La Hoya then tossed the figurative ball to Haney’s court. “We are all still waiting to hear the facts from you Bill,” he said, “because we all watched that fight and we cant unsee it.”
