Ryan Garcia took the time to compare Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the most diplomatic way possible.

Garcia, the junior welterweight star from Victorville, Calif., has had a bumpy few weeks stemming from a longstanding, ongoing feud with his promoter, De La Hoya of Golden Boy. To compound matters, Garcia has publicly touted his friendship with Mayweather, an archenemy of De La Hoya, both in the ring and beyond it.

The trio cropped up in the news last week after it was announced that Rolando Romero would be fighting Isaac Cruz in the inaugural Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view show on Amazon Prime Video on March 30. That announcement caught Garcia off guard, as prior to the news, he had confidently indicated on his social media that he would be the one fighting Romero, who owns the WBA 140-pound title.

Garcia suggested he was misled to believe he would be fighting Romero, while not explicitly mentioning De La Hoya, who, in a social media post, denied that talks with Romero were ever serious. De La Hoya also warned Mayweather to back off from meddling in the promotional affairs of Garcia, telling “TBE” to “f--- off.” Garcia was originally focused on fighting WBC 140-pound titlist Devin Haney, but he decided to switch his focus to Romero after having a conversation with Mayweather, who is the promoter-of-record for Romero.

In a recent interview, Garcia defended his friendship with Mayweather, saying he “loves” and looks up to the Hall of Fame fighter.

“This is my problem with Oscar,” Garcia told Patrick Ben-David on the PBD Podcast. “Stop going to the media and bashing Floyd. There’s no reason.”

“He (De La Hoya) just did that because he was mad,” Garcia continued. “At the end of the day, Floyd is influential. It’s a normal conversation we have with people. [Mayweather said], ‘So why don’t you try and get a belt and then go fight Haney for a bigger unification.’ It makes more sense and there’s more at stake. [I said], ‘I don’t know Floyd. I gave the people my word.’ And Floyd said, ‘things change.’ And he gave me—I’m just gonna keep it short and simple—I was like, ‘alright Floyd.’

“I look up to Floyd a lot. I really do love him. That’s why I went out on a limb to defend him online when I really didn’t have to. because I genuinely know that he has a big heart. Huge heart. Authentic, huge heart. Does he like money? Yes. But he also loves blessing people. He tries his best. Me and Floyd have gotten close. And I really value that relationship. He actually just called me. He just face-timed me.”

Asked to highlight what separates De La Hoya from Mayweather, Garcia said the key difference has to do with authenticity.

“Oscar is getting to the point where he’s becoming his truest self: goofy, crazy, and whatever he wants to be and just kind of living in truth,” Garcia said. “Floyd has always been living in truth. He’s as real as it comes. That’s the difference.”

“One’s, like, in your face, and the other one is moving in silence and destroying everything, from the top,” Garcia said of the working styles of the two promoters. “Floyd works in shadows. He’s in behind the scenes more than you think in this boxing game.”

Garcia denied that Mayweather ever tried to “poach” him as De La Hoya has consistently alluded to, saying that they are simply good friends and that leans on Mayweather for advice from time to time.   

“But Floyd is not (trying to be my promoter),” Garcia said. “It’s being friends with somebody. You can literally be friends with somebody, right? You can give me counsel about a fight and if I said Patrick Bet-David, yo, don’t fight this guy right now fight that guy, what are you doing? That’s called friends.”

On the topic of De La Hoya’s career as a professional fighter, Garcia was more critical.

“Oscar had a lot of potential,” Garcia said. “I just think Oscar didn’t reach his fullest potential. He let all the bullsh!t get to him. This sh!t is bullsh!t. all the fame, all the money, the girls, all that is bullsh!t. there’s only one purpose and that’s God.” 

Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.