Hours after Ryan Garcia and Rukiya Anpo held a press conference to announce their December 30 exhibition bout which was set to be held in Tokyo, Japan, Golden Boy Promotions, Garcia’s promoter, has stepped in to cancel the fight. As Golden Boy CEO and founder Oscar De La Hoya would clarify later on, the promotion holds exclusive rights over all of Garcia’s fights and refused to sign off on his exhibition bout, culminating in its cancellation.
Yesterday [November 26], PED-suspended American fighter Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s) and Japanese kickboxer Rukiya Anpo staged a press conference to signal their upcoming December 30 bout―set to headline a card organized by Japanese kickboxing/MMA promotion Rizin Fighting Federation (Rizin FF).
However, the exhibition fight has now been shelved after Oscar De La Hoya revealed that his promotion, Golden Boy Promotions, had not signed off on the fight.
“Golden Boy Promotions has exclusive rights to Ryan Garcia’s fights,” De La Hoya posted on Twitter/X hours after the presser was held. “The organizers of this event have acknowledged as such and have agreed in writing that our sign-off is needed for this event to occur. As no such sign-off has been given, as of today there is no event with Ryan Garcia.“
As Ryan Garcia is under contract with Golden Boy, only an approval by the promotion would allow him to engage in any other fight, exhibition or otherwise.
While Garcia is currently still serving a suspension from the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) until April of 2025 for testing positive for the banned substance of Ostarine, the NYSAC’s rules only applies to professional boxing fights held within the United States, thereby enabling Garcia to effectively bypass his suspension to engage in an exhibition bout against Anpo in Japan.
Neither Golden Boy or Oscar De La Hoya explicitly stated their reasoning for not signing off on the exhibition bout. There remains the possibility of the fight coming through depending on Garcia’s ability to convince his promotion to compete on December 30, however.
This could indicate the exhibition could still commence depending on how and if Golden Boy is financially compensated in order for the promotion to recoup profits from their fighter.
