On Thursday, boxer Ryan Garcia was expelled by the World Boxing Council following an anti-Black and anti-Muslim rant on an X/Twitter space. Naturally, many in the combat sports realm have spoken out against Garcia following this. That now includes Garcia’s longtime promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
Throughout nearly the entirety of Garcia’s professional career, he has been under contract with Golden Boy Promotions. De La Hoya is the chairman and CEO of that company.
The partnership has been through some serious adversity in the past, most notably this past month when Garcia came to a settlement with the New York State Athletic Commission for a no-contest, a fine, and a one-year ban from boxing after testing positive for performance-enhancing drug ostarine around his April knockout victory over Devin Haney. But without a doubt, this most recent incident is the biggest PR nightmare that De La Hoya has had while managing Garcia.
Garcia has made attempts to walk back his incredibly disgusting comments that got him expelled by the WBC. He’s said he was “trolling” in his remarks about George Floyd. But De La Hoya seemingly understands just how troubled Garcia appears to be.
De La Hoya took to social media to issue a statement on Garcia’s comments, saying that there is “no room for hate or intolerance at his company”.
”There is no room for hate or intolerance at my company,” wrote De La Hoya on X. “Period. I condemn Ryan’s words in the strongest terms possible. I see that he has apologized, and that is a start — but it is only a start to earn back the trust and respect of those of us who have and continue to support him. We hope Ryan will use the time he has away from the sport to work through the issues he has publicly discussed. We stand ready to help in whatever we can.”
”There is no room for hate or intolerance at my company. Period. I condemn Ryan’s words in the strongest terms possible. I see that he has apologized, and that is a start — but it is only a start to earn back the trust and respect of those of us who have and continue to support…
— Oscar De La Hoya (@OscarDeLaHoya) July 5, 2024
Garcia has technically issued apologies for his comments. But his apologies have been filled with excuses, whether that be claiming those who were offended by his use of the N-word are “too sensitive” or that he was prompted by someone to use the racial slur.
It remains to be seen what will happen between Garcia and Golden Boy Promotions and if he will still be managed by the company in the future. But it sure seems like De La Hoya wants to see Garcia make further amends before the two sides go forward with future business.
