Ryan Garcia Criticises Tank Davis for Avoiding Fighters in Their Prime
Ryan Garcia has hit out at Gervonta Davis for not facing fighters at their peak.
Garcia’s criticism was in relation to the terms of his fight with Davis. Garcia took the fight at a catchweight of 136 pounds, which included a ten-pound rehydration clause. That had an impact on the fighter, who claimed that the weight played a part in his loss.
Davis ultimately stopped Garcia in round seven with a body shot to claim the biggest win of his career. And yet, when it came to facing bigger fighters, Davis has shown a tendency to put in a rehydration clause. Garcia did not take to kindly to that, as he made his feelings clear.
Garcia On Davis
“[Davis] will never fight me at 140. This guy will never fight anybody at a fair thing. He just won’t. He won’t chance it. He really doesn’t have that dog in him. He doesn’t have that spirit of an old-school fighter. But I don’t care. We didn’t really run it. That wasn’t really a fight. It was a half-a-man versus a dude that, even when he dropped me, he really didn’t want to engage either, to be honest,” Garcia said
Despite this, Garcia also admitted having a rib injury going into the fight. The boxer was hurt in sparring to the body. This was then leaked to the Davis camp after the fighter revealed he had a mole in camp.
But the opportunity to face Davis in the biggest fight of his career was too big to turn down. The fight would end up selling over 1.2 million PPVs, as well as producing a gate of over $20 million, the highest of 2023. And in the process of doing so, Garcia picked up $30 million. But looking back, Garcia was not at his best coming into the bout.
Garcia’s Injury
“I did go in the ring with a rib injury, a separated rib from sparring. I was dehydrated and it was like one of the first shots of sparring. I didn’t even get hit hard. My rib just [sunk] in and I had to go to the hospital, spent there some time, and I couldn’t even run. I couldn’t do anything. It was about two weeks before the fight. There was nothing that I could do. I decided that I wasn’t gonna pull out. Too much time [had] been put into this and too much things went into making this fight happen. I wasn’t gonna pull out,” Garcia stated
But now that Garcia has bounced back with a win over Oscar Duarte, the fighter is in a better position to grab a world title at 140. Fights with Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez could open up moving forward. And that may be enough to secure a rematch with Davis, particularly if there is a demand for it. And given what we have seen from the first fight, there is plenty of interest.
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