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It appears that negotiations for the highly anticipated Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia superfight have hit a bump in the road. An official announcement for the fight should have been made at any time, but negotiations have now hit a snag. “We are literally on the 1 yard line; what’s holding everything back is the rematch clause,” Garcia’s promoter and Golden Boy Promotions honcho Oscar De La Hoya told ESPN’s Mike Coppinger. “It’s right for Ryan to win, then our team controls everything as A-side. That’s just the way it’s always been… it’s common sense that whoever wins is the A side. That’s the bottom line. We are not reinventing the wheel here.
According to De La Hoya, Team Davis, of which PBC boss Al Haymon is a major, if not the biggest, part, wants to decide whether Garcia should defeat Davis. That means a rematch would be televised on Showtime, a favorite outlet for Davis and Haymon, rather than DAZN, which is preferred by Garcia and De La Hoya. As it stands, the first Davis-Garcia fight (should it happen) will be televised on Showtime as a pay-per-view.
“Al Haymon is dictating everything,” said De La Hoya. “They asked this, asked that… who goes out first, penalties if Ryan gets overweight. We caved, negotiated and it was all very pleasant. If Ryan loses, of course, there’s no rematch. De La Hoya then stressed that so far the negotiations have gone quite well. “It was a pleasant negotiation, really. I really hope their team doesn’t fumble the ball and we don’t get the Super Bowl,” De La Hoya said. “We at Golden Boy are just protecting our TV partners. It’s only fitting that everything be changed if Ryan wins.
Both Davis and Garcia are young, undefeated, hard-hitting and hugely popular. The public has been repeatedly assured that negotiations are going so well that there is no doubt a Davis-Garcia meeting will take place on April 15th. Last minute details regarding a rematch clause will hopefully be ironed out in time. Fans have missed out on enough major fights as it stands. If this fight fails, it will be a travesty. That said, it seems both Davis and Garcia want the fight to take place, which could be what ultimately pushes the negotiations over the finish line.
