After an exciting first meeting in Los Angeles last week, neither Ryan Garcia or his opponent Rukiya Anpo could be bothered showing up to their second press conference in Japan.
The pair both appeared virtually, with Garcia showing up on video link after seemingly having warned the promotion ahead of time. But his rival was supposed to be in attendance, and decided against going for an outlandish reason.
Anpo and Garcia are set to face off at the Saitama Super Arena on December 30. But this latest incident has caused further concern about the fight ever happening after Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya claimed last week the event was off.
- HITLIST: Ryan Garcia names Jake Paul and Sean O’Malley on four-man hit list of opponents for comeback fight
Ryan Garcia’s opponent ‘overslept’ and missed press conference for fight
Yesterday, there was a second press conference scheduled to promote Ryan Garcia and Rukiya Anpo’s meeting at a RIZIN event in Saitama later this month. After meeting in Los Angeles last week, it was expected there would be further fireworks.
But with Garcia joining on video link, Anpo opted not to bother attending, insisting that he had overslept and was unable to make it. “Good morning, sorry I overslept,” Anpo told the media as well as organisers during the event after he phoned in without even a video element.
When Fanmio boss Solomon Engel noted that he had come all the way from America for the press conference and that Anpo should have been there, the kickboxer replied: “I’m not there but for the press conference in the US I travelled the way there. I’m blown away that Ryan’s not here in Japan.”
Garcia insisted that he didn’t need to make the trip given that his rival is the B-Side in the fight and that he is getting the chance to fight a top star in boxing. “I do what I want,” Garcia said. “Be quiet, he got the biggest fight because of me so just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Shut up and do what you’re told.”
Ryan Garcia and Rukiya Anpo had fiery first meeting in Los Angeles
The initial press conference between Garcia and Anpo in Los Angeles was a tasty one, and truly did build up expectations for the fight. The Japanese kickboxer threw paper at his rival, who proceeded to go for him on stage, and their face-off was truly intense.
“He’s a young fighter who was trying to make a statement against a legend in Manny Pacquiao,” Garcia said on Tueday. “That rubbed me the wrong way and now I’m here to show him someone in his prime with speed and power.
“I beat up a pound-for-pound champion, and you are not at that level. You’re gonna get a whupping. You’re not good, you’re just big. I’m gonna knock you out in front of the world. You may think this is Hollywood, but this is for real. You’re gonna see who the ‘King’ is.
“He’s gonna be the bigger man in that ring. We had to give him something to give him hope. We’re going to adjust and ultimately my skills are going to put me over the top. He’s training like this is a world title fight, so we can’t take this lightly.”
Ryan Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya claims fight is off
Last Tuesday evening, Oscar De La Hoya took to social media to declare that he and Golden Boy Promotions have not yet signed off on the boxer competing. While he refused to completely rule out the idea of the fight happening on December 30, he did declare that he has yet to fully agree to the terms.
“Golden Boy Promotions has exclusive rights to Ryan Garcia’s fights,” he wrote. “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.”
Garcia appeared to react on X shortly after De La Hoya tweeted, sharing an emoji of a man face-palming. However, he has not said anything else yet.
- Who is Mike Tyson? All you need to know about the boxing legend after match with Jake Paul