So, I guess it’s back on? Or it was never off in the first place? Who the hell knows?
Whatever the case, the big Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fight, white-board-markered in for April 15 appears to be saved (for the moment) after a compromise was made regarding the rematch clause.
I guess (because, again, who really fucking knows?), the hangup was over who got to be lead promoter should Davis lose and exercise the rematch clause (only a defeated Davis would have the power to force a rematch). Golden Boy felt that it was only right that they would get to have lead promoter status should their fighter, Garcia, win.
And, after a week of unnecessary drama and even more unnecessary Oscar De La Hoya grandstanding, the issue has apparently been settled with Team Davis/PBC quickly agreeing to that compromise.
DAZN’s Chris Mannix was the first to report this latest development because, dammit, why should Oscar leak info to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger all the time when Mannix and Oscar work for the same company???
“NEW: PBC has sent a contract back to Golden Boy that positions Golden Boy as the lead promoter for a rematch between Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis,” Mannix wrote via Twitter. “Minor details to be ironed out but it's expected Garcia-Davis could be signed as early as today.”
De La Hoya, who totally doesn’t need to grasp desperately at attention and push the narrative that he’s actually an on-the-ball executive in his own company, leapt at his phone to Tweet about himself being totally “executive-y.”
“I remain focused and determined on finalizing Tank vs KingRy,” Oscar wrote, presumably shirtless, running his fingers down his new abs. “Contrary to leaked reports about the rematch clause, there’s still a couple points with strings attached that need to be ironed out.”
Wait, what? You mean, the report that YOU "leaked" to Coppinger about the issue you said was the "only" issue remaining? And now there are more issues? Someone might’ve fisted this cat so deep that it hurt his brain (Umm...I’m referring to a video that came out not too long ago where porn star Scarlit Scandal says she uh, fisted...um...and there was a tequila bottle cap inserted inside his...uh...and there was cross-dressing...totally allegedly...but, yeah...yuck...let’s move on...).
For now, the fight is back on. Until we hear about some more contractual hurdles. Until we find out what happens in Davis’ court case, which starts this week. Until Davis gets in trouble again. Until Garcia has an anxiety attack or sprains his wrist doing TikTok challenges.
Until April 15, I’ll keep treating Tank-Ryan like a lottery scratch-off. I hope I get the big prize and I’ll be happy as hell if I do. But I ain’t planning my budget around the winnings.
None of this “will they-won’t they” stuff has been very entertaining and, honestly, it just makes me less excited about seeing this fight. This isn’t “marinating,” if that’s been the ass-backward plan of Oscar and others. If anything, it’s the opposite of promotion. Mind you, Tank-Ryan will do great business, with or without the contractual drama prelude, but it would make for a better lead-in if the fight was an absolute sure thing and fans and media were spending all their time debating about the matchup rather than the contract.
And, speaking of media…
We saw the very worst of a very bad boxing media this past week as the Davis-Garcia rematch clause drama played out.
In short, we saw a promoter float out a piece of information that would go unsubstantiated and unchecked by everyone in the media, causing waves of misinformation and confusion to wash over the public discourse. This happens a lot. Actually, it happens all the time. It took a semi-pro at Chicken Tawk to actually bother to get an on-the-record comment from the other side of this reported contractual dispute when they talked to Showtime Sports bossman Stephen Espinoza, who appeared to be as blindsided by the supposed hangup as fans were. It was Chicken Tawk that created real context from this strategically leaked story. Not Yahoo. Not Sports Illustrated. Not ESPN.
ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, meanwhile, is flailing so desperately these days to keep his fat stacks gig, it’s bordering on pathetic now. All we get from this guy is passed-along “Sources” leaks that, much too often, he has to walk back because they’re not fully accurate. It almost makes me long for the Dan Rafael ESPN era. I used to talk to the guy and he was pleasant enough in an oafish kind of way. I even tried to be supportive at first, as I only saw positives for ESPN after Rafael and Steve Kim soiled the highest-profile media spot in the business. Coppinger’s struggles were to be expected, though. The guy doesn’t really know the sport or its culture and all he really had coming into this ESPN job was a phone full of contacts and a willingness to churn out leaked partisan spin as clickbait “exclusives.” It seriously makes you ask why someone would want to be a writer, at the very pinnacle of his sub-niched profession, only to NOT write anything that matters.
At any rate, I’ll repeat myself (again)-- Taking info from a promoter and releasing it to the public is not journalism, it's called public relations. These boxing “journalists” might as well be publicists. I’m not just talking about Coppinger, by the way. There’s a LOT of this nowadays. I’m no journalist, but I do know journalism when I see it. This ain’t it.
And, no, I’m not the “boxing media police,” nor do I enjoy writing about media matters-- in part because these boxing media-types have gigantic hissy fits and are petty as fuck, even going so far as to try and keep you from making a living for having the gall to hold them accountable for anything. It’s just that nobody else ever talks about the media’s role in fucking things up in the sport-- maybe because most everyone writing about boxing is trying to get into that same writer clique that’s fucking things up.
Oh well.
What else can I say? This whole Davis-Garcia rematch clause drama was a total clusterfuck, showcasing everything wrong with the sport and its media. Let’s hope that the fight DOES happen and that it wipes away all the wrong with what’s right with the sport.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.