Former stablemates Ryan Garcia and Canelo Alvarez are anticipated to stage close to back-to-back pay-per-view headline appearances, with Garcia going April 20 in opposition to 140-pound world champion Devin Haney and Alvarez following Cinco de Mayo weekend in opposition to an opponent but to be named.
This sequence might affirm a torch-passing second for Garcia. Not solely is he combating to grow to be a world champion for the primary time, he’s poised to wrest away the mantle as the game’s new pay-per-view king from Alvarez.
A yr in the past, Southern California’s Garcia, 25, parlayed his immense social-media reputation to attract 1.2 pay-per-view buys for his combat in opposition to unbeaten Gervonta “Tank” Davis whereas Alvarez, 33, reportedly failed to achieve a mixed 1 million buys in two lackluster bouts in opposition to John Ryder and Jermell Charlo.
Garcia’s promoter and Alvarez’s former mentor/promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, foresees one other pay-per-view rout by Garcia coming, particularly if Alvarez opts to decide on Brooklyn’s unbeaten energy puncher Edgar Berlanga over the De La Hoya-promoted Jaime Munguia, the unbeaten former 154-pound champion from Tijuana.
“All of it will depend on who (Canelo) fights,” De La Hoya instructed BoxingScene after Garcia and Haney staged a unstable information convention at Hollywood’s Avalon Theater.
De La Hoya was determined in assuring Garcia-Haney will surpass a million buys, and he assessed that, “If Canelo chooses Munguia, it goes properly over one million properties,” as properly.
However amid the stories that Alvarez desires to fulfill Berlanga first, that’s a unique matter.
“If Canelo chooses Berlanga, it is not going to crack 500,000 (buys),” De La Hoya stated.
De La Hoya’s opinion is predicated on the actual fact Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) has but to draw the kind of success or popularity of a participant anticipating to generate a one-million-plus-buys occasion. His most noteworthy feat – 16 first-round knockouts in his first 16 bouts – was capped inside a fan-less venue, the pandemic-era Las Vegas “Bubble.”
Munguia, in the meantime, has gained a world title and repeatedly defended it in a number of most important occasions.
He moreover provides a renewal of the rivalry between Mexican fighters residing close to the U.S. border and people from the center of the nation, with the bitter Erik Morales-Marco Antonio Barrera trilogy standing as Instance A.
Amid the hypothesis of Alvarez-Berlanga in Could, De La Hoya’s promotional accomplice Bernard Hopkins, the previous long-reigning middleweight champion, instructed BoxingScene that as of Thursday, Alvarez’s Could selection “gained’t be” Munguia.
“As a matter of reality, I feel (Garcia-Haney) will (outsell Canelo’s combat) as a result of who’s Canelo combating?” Hopkins stated.
“I feel Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney wins due to the fireworks, the historical past between the 2 (with six newbie conferences cut up with three victories apiece) and the hypothesis over whether or not Ryan can win the largest combat of his profession.”
Garcia’s erratic latest conduct, as he was seen smoking a marijuana joint, then telling Haney at Thursday’s information convention that he drinks alcohol and smokes weed, has additional stirred intrigue.
“I need to say, the shenanigans don’t damage in any respect,” Hopkins stated. “This combat has loads of traits to it, loads of drama, and it ain’t play and it ain’t faux.
“It’s actual that Ryan’s going by way of one thing. It’s actual that Devin Haney believes – and is assured – that he’s the perfect in that division and deserves respect primarily based on his accomplishments. It is a tug-of-war to see who can actually be the person they are saying they’re come April 20.”
And whereas Alvarez has balked at assembly David Benavidez, the perfect opponent he might choose within the super-middleweight division the place he reigns as undisputed champion, De La Hoya sees the distinction with Garcia’s mentality as stark.
“I imagine Ryan desires to be nice deep down inside. I actually suppose that,” De La Hoya stated. “He wouldn’t be taking these fights, like ‘Tank’ and Haney … he’s the one one doing it. Tank’s not doing it. Teofimo (Lopez)? Sheesh. I’d like to have a round-robin match, and on the finish of the day, we’ll see who the highest 140-pound fighter is. That’s the way you create superstars. That’s my plan.”
Ought to Garcia defeat Haney April 20, the plan is in full impact.
