‘I Received Death Threats’

Oscar De La Hoya wasn’t getting much love ahead of the big boxing match between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia this past weekend (April 22, 2023).

Garcia had the support of De La Hoya heading into the bout as the promoter of Golden Boy Promotions. Unfortunately for the boxing legend, De La Hoya had a turbulent week and it escalated to a point where he wasn’t able to make it to the post-fight press conference after Garcia’s seventh-round technical knockout loss via body shot (watch highlights).

Bernard Hopkins, who is also affiliated with Golden Boy Promotions, faced some trouble throughout the festivities.

“First of all, congratulations to Gervonta Davis, you fought a hell of a fight,” De La Hoya said on Instagram (h/t MMA Fighting). “My hat’s off to you. You had a great game plan, beautiful body shot. Ryan Garcia, we are proud of you, the world is proud of you. You made this fight happen. You wanted this fight, and I’m sure a lot of fighters will learn from you, that you’re daring to be great. But I do want to clarify why Bernard Hopkins and I weren’t at the post-fight press conference. First of all, Bernard Hopkins was accused during the weigh-in of having testosterone cream on his hands and touching Gervonta Davis, when he only wanted to help him because he was going to fall off the stage. So PBC (Premier Boxing Championships), Gervonta’s promoter, banned him from everything. He couldn’t get inside the ring. He couldn’t do anything during the promotion.

“And so, as for myself, my security team told me, ‘Boss, we’ve got to get the f—k out of here,’ because I received death threats. You guys don’t know this, I received death threats throughout the whole week, and they just said it was simply too dangerous so we got out of there. And plus Eric Gomez, who is my president, who was right there front and center with Ryan Garcia — so there was no issue, no problems. This is all coming from all these PBC minions that are just attacking Ryan, attacking Golden Boy. But it’s all good, it’s all good.

“Ryan Garcia made this happen, ‘Tank’ made this happen,” he continued. “We had a great fight, the best man won. My hat’s off to you. And again, ‘Tank’ Davis, you’re a great fighter. Ryan Garcia, I have your back. Bernard has your back. We’re with you 1,000 percent, and you will be back stronger than ever, better than ever. Guaranteed.”

Garcia’s loss hasn’t come without other controversies of sorts. The previously unbeaten 24-year-old (23-1) has since claimed to have had a training partner leak information from training camp and highlighted how the rehydration clause affected his performance.