By: Hans Themistode
Oscar De La Hoya kept a close eye on the ongoing war of words between both Isaac Cruz and Ryan Garcia. The two lightweight contenders continued to hurl derogatory statements at one another with Garcia urging the budding star to accept an upcoming showdown against him.
Yet, according to De La Hoya, Garcia’s promoter, Cruz was given an opportunity to settle his issues with Garcia in the ring, something that he has reportedly turned down.
“It is very unfortunate Isaac Cruz team turned down a very lucrative offer,” said De La Hoya on his social media account. “More than he made with Tank.”
Cruz, of Mexican descent, recently saw his stock skyrocket following his previous trip to the ring. With Gervonta Davis in desperate need of a replacement opponent on December 5th, following the removal of his original opponent Rolando Romero, Cruz eagerly stepped in.
Although most were expecting a quick and easy night at the office for Davis, Cruz gave him everything he could handle. For the first time in the career of the hard-hitting star, Davis was forced to go the full 12 round distance. While he would ultimately eke out the close unanimous decision victory, Garcia is of the belief that Cruz did just enough to pull out the win.
Still, despite Garcia heaping praise on the rough and rugged contender, the former WBC lightweight titlist was hoping to deliver a statement of his own in stopping Cruz in their presumptive showdown. But, with De La Hoya revealing that team Cruz has opted to go in another direction, the hunt for Garcia’s next opponent will now continue.
For the 23-year-old Garcia, he’s anxiously awaiting his next ring date. After starting his 2021 on the right foot, scoring a seventh-round stoppage win over Luke Campbell, Garcia was forced to sit on ice for the remainder of the year due to a combination of mental health recovery and right wrist surgery which subsequently led to the cancelation of his contest against Joseph Diaz.