Adrien Broner has announced his confusion surrounding an offer from Golden Boy to face super-lightweight rival Ryan Garcia.
Broner revealed he never heard anything from promoter Don King over a potential battle with Garcia on December 9.
“The Problem” then demanded Golden Boy send over a contract for Garcia after he’s faced Oscar Duarte in his comeback.
Adrien Broner in the dark over Ryan Garcia
“Golden Boy, I never knew about the offer with the fight with Ryan Garcia. I’m just now finding out about that as we speak,” said Broner. ”
“But I’m here to tell you I don’t need a tune-up. After Ryan takes care of business in December, we can make it happen ASAP!”
The Cincinnati native then assured Golden Boy that he could still compete. That’s despite naming a fight performance that he lost.
“I’m the same person who fought Manny Pacquiao. So why would I be afraid of saving Private Ryan? Send the contract!”
Golden Boy President Eric Gomez revealed the initial miscommunication. He stated Don King was given the offer but that it was Broner who disregarded it.
# “I give Ryan a lot of credit,” Gomez told The Three Knockdown Rule. “We were going through names.
“There was a possibility at one point that we would go after Adrien Broner, a great name for him. It’s a great name. We had some conversations with [AB’s promoter] Don King.
Let’s get it on!
“Don King spoke to [Golden Boy founder] Oscar [De La Hoya] directly and said: ‘C’mon, let’s get it on.’
“But for whatever reason, Broner didn’t want it at this time. Broner said he would do a tune-up fight first. That he would be happy to explore it early next year.”
Gomez added that they then settled for Duarte.
“So, as we went through names, Duarte’s name came up. I was very, very surprised that they brought it up, and it came from Ryan.
“So, there’s something that Ryan sees. Again, these fighters have their vision and see things we don’t see. He wanted Duarte, and he felt like he could exploit that.
“I can see Ryan’s got fast hands. Duarte can be hit, but he’s also got heavy hands, and he’s very, very dangerous.”
Broner is due to fight on December 2, a week for Garcia. If both win, negotiations could restart. But whether Broner can genuinely make 140 pounds is still up for debate.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer.
Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
