I want to see Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia more than anyone. I really do. I want to see this fight more than I wanted to be with little Jenny Blancas from the block, back when I was 18.
But Jenny, like Davis-Garcia, was way too high-maintenance and, ultimately, wasn’t worth the effort I had to put into wooing her. It was just too much grief, too much drama, too much hassle…and there was never any guarantee I’d actually get anywhere with her, anyway. The older me realizes now that life is a lot simpler and more enjoyable if you skip over the divas.
And in the particular case of Davis-Garcia, it sure seems like Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya is the raging diva. I mean, really, how can you think otherwise when his is, literally, the only voice whining over contract disputes and deadlines and a bunch of other shit.
Most recently, De La Hoya reached out to desperate source junky, Mike Coppinger of ESPN, to voice his latest contract gripe. This time, the former 6-division world champ is contesting the rematch clause in the contract, which can only be exercised should Davis lose.
Oscar insists that, should Davis lose and Garcia win, Golden Boy/DAZN should become the lead promoter and broadcaster of the rematch. As the contract currently sits, any rematch would keep the current arrangement of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC)/Showtime handling the broadcast.
"We're literally down at the 1-yard line; what's holding everything up is the rematch clause," De La Hoya told Coppinger. "It's only fair if Ryan wins, then our side controls everything as the A-side. This is just the way it always has been...It's common sense that whoever wins is the A-side. That's the bottom line. We're not reinventing the wheel here.
"Al Haymon is dictating everything…They've asked for this, asked for that. Who comes out first, the penalties if Ryan comes overweight. We've given in, we've negotiated, and everything has been very pleasant. If Ryan loses, sure, there's no rematch.
"I really hope their side doesn't fumble the ball and we have no Super Bowl…We at Golden Boy are just protecting our TV partners. It's only fair that everything gets switched around if Ryan wins.
"We're holding strong because we know it's fair and we feel 1,000% this fight is going to be made and be the biggest fight of the past few years.”
All of this, apparently, has come as a surprise to those actually involved in the Davis-Garcia talks.
Showtime Sports bossman, Stephen Espinoza says that this is the first he’s actually heard of Oscar’s bone of contention.
“The reality is...no one knows what Golden Boy’s open points are,” Espinoza told Chicken Tawk [Look them up on Twitter and/or Youtube, by the way. They’re doing a great job of presenting timely, bias-free reporting straight from the source’s mouth]. “We sent a revised draft to them last week and we haven't heard anything. When I read on espn.com that there's only one issue left, that's the first time I've heard that because we're trying to get all the comments. So, great. If there's one issue left, there's one issue left.”
And here comes the part where Oscar’s negotiating through media/social media brings the drama that could sink negotiations altogether. The crowing about one final issue has tied Golden Boy’s hands in the actual talks. The execs at his own company must concede all remaining issues to deal with the issue their company figurehead said was the ONLY remaining barrier to making the fight. Oscar has given the other side tremendous leverage in this final round of talks, pretty much putting up a billboard on Las Vegas Blvd, saying, “If this fight doesn’t happen, it’s because of this one thing we didn’t want to concede.”
Espinoza saw this and clearly plans on playing the cards dealt to him by the guy with the new abs and the itchy Twitter trigger finger.
“If we're only talking about one issue, that's great,“ Espinoza said on the Chicken Tawk Twitter Space. “We haven't gotten any comments from DAZN, at all, in weeks...When he says there's one issue, that means DAZN has no comments, Golden Boy has no comments. That is phenomenal news...I don't care what that last point is, we literally have one point to discuss. That is great news...I'm going to take him at his word. I haven't seen anything in writing...[But] believe me, trust, that if we get something back in writing and there's 15 open comments, then I'm going to have a lot to say. But I'm going to take him at his word. There is ONE open issue, we're at the one-yard line, there's one open issue. That's it. So, I'm not going to have to talk about ANYTHING else, in the universe, on this fight, except that one issue. That's great news.”
The Showtime exec’s optimism gives me great skepticism, however, because there’s every reason to believe that Oscar has gone off half-cocked once again. There’s every reason to believe that what will be coming in paper from the adults in the Golden Boy room may not match what the Golden Boy has presented to media and via social media.
It’s not hard to see where all this may be headed. So, can we spare the drama and just move on to other fights?
De La Hoya’s constant public cockblocking of all things Davis-Garcia reeks of grandstanding and it could very well sink negotiations. A wise old-timer boxing businessman once told me: “If they’re negotiating in the media, they’re not really serious about making the fight. It’s all about publicity.”
Well, no matter who’s serious about making this fight, maybe it’s time to think about ditching it now. Let’s not waste the time of the fighters, the fans, and whoever may actually be prioritizing efforts to put this event together over publicity for themselves. Hell, given Davis’ upcoming trial and Garcia’s various issues, there’s no guarantee that the fighters will make it to April 15, anyway, even if a deal gets hammered out.
Back when I was 18, if I hadn’t ditched my efforts to woo Jenny Blancas, the diva, I never would’ve met Graciela Ponce, who was hot like summertime cement and would do this thing with her tongue…man…
Maybe ditching Davis-Garcia makes way for something better and less of a goddamn headache to put together.