Ryan Garcia wanted Oscar De La Hoya for his walkout. So where was he?

Oscar De La Hoya is said to have caused confusion between sending off Ryan Garcia.

Garcia put his WBC welterweight title on the line against Conor Benn in the main event of the Zuffa Boxing Card on September 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Fighting over Mexican Independence Day weekend, Garcia expected Mexican-American icon De La Hoya to take part in his fight and even revealed that he was calling Benn to go up against the golden boy.

Golden Boy says the fight day mix-up left Oscar De La Hoya between Garcia and Benn

Garcia was mildly disappointed to see De La Hoya absent from the event altogether.

“I thought he was coming here…” Garcia said after his second-round knockout win over Benn. “I actually invited him out for a walk with me. I thought it was going to be iconic. Everyone was asking where he was.”

Jane Murcia, director of De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions program, claims Olympic gold was missed out on Garcia’s exit due to confusion. Murcia claims Garcia asked De La Hoya out with another Mexican boxing legend, Julio Cesar Chavez.

However, De La Hoya was reportedly told on the morning of the fight that Garcia had changed his mind and wanted to go out with musician Marco Antonio Barrera and WWE legend Rey Mysterio instead. Garcia ended up going out with Barrera and Mysterio.

“I want to clear this up because there seems to be some confusion and it really saddens me to think that Ryan is under the impression that Oscar didn’t want to send him out,” Murcia wrote to X. “Yes, Ryan invited Oscar to go ALONG with Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. It was a ‘big surprise’ that ODLH reported in the morning, even though we were informed of his IG team’s fight. We were told that Ryan had changed his mind and no longer wanted ODLH to take him out.”