Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya talks to Fight Hub TV about this weekend’s cruiserweight title fight between Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez vs David Benavidez, what his plans are for Ryan Garcia’s next fight, and more. Check out some excerpts of what De La Hoya had to say below.
De La Hoya on Ryan Garcia’s next move
“There’s three options for him, like viable options for him. you have the Rolly option, which I don’t know if people want to see that because you see the first fight, it was okay, in Time Square where only like 300 people saw.
But then you have the rematch with Devin Haney. That’s the fight that everybody wants to watch. That’s the rematch because Devin Haney’s looking like a beast.
“People are talking about how Devin Haney didn’t look too good, he wasn’t himself, Ryan was doing this and that — no, Ryan just beat him in a great fight. So the revenge factor is pretty interesting to me. And then you have Conor Benn…Absolutely it’s possible but you think about this: he’s fighting for the Zuffa belt. And Ryan’s fighting for all the belts, he’s fighting for the WBC, WBA, IBF. Like, Conor Benn’s with the Zuffa belt, the unicorn pink Zuffa belt. So who knows if we can make that fight.
“But, look, if Dana White wants to call me, then we can start talking. That’s the bottom line. This is all about the fighters, it’s not about me and Dana. Me and Dana have a beef going on which is actually a lot of fun for me, but this is about the fighters. I can squash the beef easily just to make this fight happen, but the fact that Conor Benn is fighting for the rainbow belt or the unicorn belt at Zuffa, I don’t know what they’re plans are, if they even want to fight for the WBC or the WBA, IBF, WBO. So, whatever. Dana, call me. It’s all good.”
On how he sees the matchup between Zurdo and Benavidez this weekend
“I see it as a tough challenge for both guys, that’s the bottom line. Styles make fights. I know all the media, everybody’s with Benavidez, kind of leaning towards Benavidez because he throws a lot of punches and he hits hard and he has a big heart and he knocks you out and he’s relentless from the first round to the last round — but styles make fights.
“Zurdo has a style that is very, very sneaky. He’s a puncher, he has a chin of granite. You never know if a punch is going to land between those combinations, those punches in bunches Benavidez throws. You never know if one of those punches lands right through the guard and times the onslaught.
“Don’t count out Zurdo just yet. I think Zurdo has a great chance and I think Saturday night you’re going to see a big surprise.”
On Benavidez moving up in weight for this fight
“It’s going to be quite interesting in the first few rounds how he handles it. Yeah, imagine you getting pinned by a Mack truck and just constantly being on top of you. You’re going to gas out, basically. You’re going to gas out and it could be in the first round or the last rounds. So, Benavidez has to conserve his energy because of the weight class, the weight, going up 25 pounds. It’s the first time in his career so I don’t know how he’s going to come out. Who knows, maybe he’s going to come out skeptical and kind of like being very careful and not being the same Benavidez we’ve become accustomed to seeing.”
