Golden Boy Promotions Files Lawsuit Against Ryan Garcia, Lupe Valencia To Enforce Contract

Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions filed a lawsuit against Ryan Garcia and Lupe Valencia, Garcia’s attorney and adviser, on Friday in United States District Court of Nevada to enforce its “valid promotional agreement” with the boxing superstar.

According to the 10-page complaint, a copy of which was obtained by BoxingScene.com, Valencia has over the last year or so directly interfered with Golden Boy’s ability to communicate with Garcia and to negotiate the best deals and fights for the popular junior welterweight contender. Golden Boy also accused Valencia of interfering in negotiations for his huge fight against Gervonta Davis and with talking to other potential opponents and promoters both before and after Garcia lost to Davis on April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Golden Boy disputed in its complaint Garcia’s “absurd position” that their promotional agreement is void and unenforceable as well. According to ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger, Garcia’s legal team sent Golden Boy Promotions a demand letter last week, in which it alleged multiple violations of their promotional agreement that invalidated it.

Golden Boy attempted to resolve this matter informally, according to the complaint, but it was forced to file a lawsuit to protect its rights as Garcia’s exclusive promoter. Twenty-five “Does” are also listed as defendants in the lawsuit, but only Garcia and Valencia have been named thus far.

The lawsuit was filed less than two months after Garcia lost the biggest fight of his career to Davis (29-0, 27 KOs), who knocked out Garcia with a body shot in the sixth round. Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) made an undisclosed career-high purse, plus a percentage of pay-per-view buys that reportedly totaled approximately 1.2 million in the United States, for his Showtime Pay-Per-View fight versus Davis.

“Golden Boy has been proud to have worked with Ryan Garcia for the last several years and to help catapult him to the kind of stardom that led to the biggest pay-per-view event in years just two months ago,” Golden Boy said in a statement released to multiple media outlets. “With this filing, we are seeking to ensure that Ryan and his team will honor the remainder of his contract, a contract that Ryan himself called ‘one of the most lucrative boxing deals for a prospect in the history of the sport.’ Since then, Ryan has moved on to becoming a legitimate contender, and we will continue to present Ryan with the best possible opponents that can eventually lead the way to a world championship and historic legacy.”

Garcia’s contract extension with Golden Boy Promotions began with his November 2019 fight against Romero Duno, whom Garcia knocked out in the first round on the Canelo Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev undercard at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The 24-year-old Garcia has fought five times since then, but the complaint doesn’t specify how many fights Golden Boy has remaining on its contract with the Victorville, California native.

De La Hoya, a six-division champion and International Boxing Hall-of-Famer, had hoped to meet with Garcia recently to discuss potential opponents for his next fight. The 1992 Olympic gold medalist also has been critical of Garcia on social media for not taking accountability for his loss to Baltimore’s Davis (https://www.boxingscene.com/ryan-garcia-de-la-hoya-get-into-heated-feud-ryan-tells-oscar-hes-tired-disrespect–175065).

Garcia previously took issue with De La Hoya and Golden Boy partner Bernard Hopkins not attending the post-fight press conference after Davis defeated him. Eric Gomez, De La Hoya’s confidante and Golden Boy’s president, did attend the press conference.

In addition to his discord with Golden Boy Promotions, Garcia parted ways with trainer Joe Goossen since he lost to Davis. He hired Derrick James – who trains Errol Spence Jr., Jermell Charlo and Anthony Joshua – to replace Goossen.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.