The post-Canelo Alvarez era at Golden Boy Promotions begins in earnest on Jan. 2.
That’s when lightweight contender Ryan Garcia faces Luke Campbell at American Airlines Center in Dallas on DAZN, the first important boxing event of the new year and the biggest fight of Garcia’s career.
Alvarez split from his longtime promoter last month, leaving Golden Boy without its cash cow. Now it’s up to promising young stars like Garcia, Vergil Ortiz, Jaime Munguia and JoJo Diaz to pick up the slack, if they can.
“It does feel a little odd,” Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya told Boxing Junkie. “I took Canelo under my wing at the tender age of 18, when he first came to the United States. His first fight was Larry Mosley, I believe. It will be odd not promoting him. I’m still rooting for him. I’m still going to be, I guess, spiritually in his corner.
“But I strongly feel we have at Golden Boy Promotions something special going on with building fighters. … I’m as excited as I can be given our track record, given what we do best. And that’s creating champions, creating stars.”
That starts with Garcia, who reminds some of a young De La Hoya himself. Talented, good looking, charismatic, a golden boy, if you will.
The 22-year-old from Los Angeles, who signed a five-year deal with Golden Boy last year, hasn’t accomplished much in the ring, at least not on a high level. He is the midst of an exciting string of knockouts but his victims aren’t exactly household names, with former title challenger Francisco Fonseca perhaps the best known.
That doesn’t seem to have hindered the growth of his massive following. He has an Instagram following of 7.7 million. Not bad for an upstart.
What’s going on? De La Hoya said it’s difficult to explain, although he’s familiar with the phenomenon.
“I strongly feel Ryan Garcia has that ‘it’ factor,” he said. “… You can’t really define what that ‘it’ factor is because not everybody has it, whatever it is. Canelo [Alvarez] has it, I had it, [Floyd] Mayweather has it, [Manny] Pacquiao has it. I’m talking about great fighters here.
“And I believe that Ryan Garcia can reach that status.”
He went on: “Ryan is in a very unique position, unlike any other fighter. I mean, look, world champions are calling him out. If you think about that, he’s in a very, very unique position. It’s unheard of in boxing. But it’s a perfect opportunity for Ryan to become great.
“I believe that his destiny is one that he can win world titles in several weight classes. I believe that Ryan is one of those fighters that has an opportunity to become a legend, to become the most popular fighter on the planet.
“At the tender age of 22 he already has 7.7 million followers on Instagram, which is unheard of. … I believe that Ryan Garcia can become the biggest and most popular, best fighter on the planet. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
He’ll have to get past Campbell first. And that might not be easy.
The Englishman is a significant step up in opposition for Garcia. He is a 2012 Olympic gold medalist. And while he has fallen short in his biggest fights – he was upset by Yvan Mendy and lost title bouts against Jorge Linares and Vasiliy Lomachenko – he gave a good account of himself each time.
In other words, Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) is a legitimate threat to beat Garcia.
“It’s going to be a … real, true test against Campbell,” De La Hoya said. “I think Campbell, the fact he’s an Olympic gold medalist, the fact he’s already here in the States training and focused and determined … it can be a very difficult fight for Ryan Garcia.
“But, again, when you have that ‘it’ factor you tend to do whatever is necessary to win fights. I think Ryan Garcia, because of that ‘it’ factor, will win in dramatic fashion January 2nd.”
De La Hoya also is bullish on Vergil Ortiz, who he believes is evolving into a dominating welterweight. The same for Jaime Munguia, a bruising young middleweight from Mexico. And Diaz, who already has won a major junior lightweight title.
Garcia, Ortiz, Munguia, Diaz, et al are why De La Hoya is optimistic going into a new year even without his departed superstar.
“I really am,” he said when asked whether he’s fired up. “For everyone. 2020 has been very difficult, to say the least. Obviously, this pandemic has put a damper on everyone’s life. I want everyone to stay safe out there.
“But I think 2021, especially because we’re starting out the year with a pretty big bang — Ryan Garcia and Luke Campbell is a terrific matchup to star the year — this can once again be a boxing break out.
“2021 has the potential to be the biggest year for the sport.”
[lawrence-related id=16293,15765,15434]