By: Sean Crose
It appears negotiations for the highly anticipated Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia superfight have hit a bump in the road. An official announcement for the fight was supposed to be made at just about any time, but now negotiations have hit a snag. “We’re literally down at the 1-yard line; what’s holding everything up is the rematch clause,” Garcia promoter and Golden Boy Promotions’ honcho Oscar De La Hoya has told ESPN’s Mike 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.”
According to De La Hoya, Team Davis, of which PBC honcho Al Haymon is a big – if not the biggest – part of, wants to call the shots if Garcia should defeat Davis. That means a rematch would be broadcast by Showtime, an outlet favored by Davis and Haymon, rather than DAZN, which is favored by Garcia and De La Hoya. As things stand, the first Davis-Garcia fight (if it should come to fruition) will be broadcast by Showtime pay per view.
“Al Haymon is dictating everything,” De La Hoya claimed. “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.” De La Hoya then emphasized that up until now, negotiations have been going rather well. “It’s been a pleasant negotiation, it really has. I really hope their side doesn’t fumble the ball and we have no Super Bowl,” De La Hoya said. “We at Golden Boy are just protecting our TV partners. It’s only fair that everything gets switched around if Ryan wins.”
Both Davis and Garcia are young, undefeated, hard hitting and extremely popular. The public has been repeatedly assured that negotiations are going so well that there’s little to no doubt that a Davis-Garcia fight will go down on the fifteenth of April. Hopefully the last minute details regarding a rematch clause will be smoothed over in time. Fans have been missing out on enough major fights as it is. If this fight were to fall through it would be a travesty. With that being said, it appears that both Davis and Garcia want the fight to happen – which may be what finally pushes negotiations past the finish line.