By Sam Volz: Ryan Garcia says he wants a fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis at “any weight” that he and his promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr want it.
That’s Ryan’s answer to promoter Mayweather after he drew a line in the sand this week, saying that to get a fight against Gervonta, Kingry Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) will need to fight him at 135.
Ryan announced last Saturday night that he would only be fighting at 140 from now on, and he mistakenly believed that Tank would have no issues with returning to that division.
After all, Tank had captured a world title last year when he dethroned WBA light welterweight champion Mario Barrios in June 2021.
Now that Ryan, 23, has let the boxing world and Floyd know that he’s willing to fight at 135, we got to see if they can successfully negotiate the fight between him and Tank Davis.
If Mayweather chooses to protect Gervonta (27-0, 25 KOs), as many fans believe he did by choosing not to match him against Vasyl Lomachenko or Teofimo Lopez, Ryan will move on and begin facing 140-lb contenders & champions.
Garcia wants Tank fight at any weight
“Ryan Garcia gets a big win over Javier Fortuna, so let’s talk about Ryan against Tank Davis,” said Chris Mannix on DAZN’s JABS. “If they fight before the end of the year, who do you got?”
Ryan wants ALL THE SMOKE 😳 pic.twitter.com/bqCaLQiKsX
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) July 22, 2022
“I want to say it’s a 50-50 fight, but I got to choose somebody. The power is there with Tank, the aggression, and its must-see action. I would favor him 51-49 over Garcia, but it’s a fight that needs to happen because it’s such a great fight,” said Sergio Mora.
“Look, I think if you had asked right after the Emmanuel Tagoe fight, I would have understood people saying, ‘Tank Davis,” said Mannix. “I don’t know where the Ryan Garcia skeptics are after a fight like this.
“Fortuna has been beat before. He has not been beaten as badly as he was by Ryan Garcia. Completely dominated from start to finish and knocked down three times before eventually spitting out his mouth guard and saying effectively, ‘No mas’ in that moment.
“I think Tank Davis is a great fighter, and I think Tank Davis is a smart fighter. But the size and perhaps the speed advantage that Ryan Garcia would have in a fight like that, I think, gives him the advantage.
“Ryan Garcia would be able to linger on the outside more against Tank Davis, force Tank to come in and hit him with one of those big shots. When he does, he can clip him with one of those hooks.
“I think Ryan looked light years better in that fight on Saturday than he looked against Emmanuel Tagoe,” said Mannix.
There is no question that Ryan will be the underdog when it comes to fighting Tank because he doesn’t have the resume to be made the favorite. If Ryan had couple more solid wins under his belt against notable opposition, he’d be the favorite.
Ryan with better resume than Tank?
“We’ve got to give [trainer] Joe Goosen a lot of credit for that because he opened up a side of Ryan Garcia that we haven’t seen,” said Mora. “That’s a patient, disciplined, not smothering yourself and the right hand.
“Not only coming from straight in front of you but looping it around with a right hook. He didn’t ignore the body,” said Mora.
“Tell me this, Sergio. “You favored Tank Davis slightly. How does Tank Davis do against Ryan?” said Mora. “Pressure and the fact that he knows how to chop tall fighters in half with that right hand. He guts them in half, and he comes up with right uppercuts.
“From there, right hooks, and then the onslaught starts. The power is real, and that’s why I got to favor that. But he’s more than just power. He knows he has a fight IQ. I’ve seen it with the fighter he’s faced.
“The only thing I question now and why I make it so close with a 50-50 fight now is Ryan has a better resume than Tank Davis. Luke Campbell, better. Javier Fortuna, a former champion, better.
“Those two names [Fortuna and Campbell] carry enough weight to say, ‘Hey, would you question Ryan Garcia against Tank Davis just because of the knockouts and names? No. The resume is there,” said Mora.
“Here’s my question for Tank Davis if this fight takes place at 140,” said Mannix. “Does he have the same power? We know he has great power at 130. He has very good power at 135. But a lot of the guys he’s fought haven’t been as threatening in terms of power punching.
“He went up to 140 to fight Mario Barrios. He’s a good fighter, don’t get me wrong, but not a massive power puncher. You go back down to 130 to fight Leo Santa Cruz. He was kind of a blown-up guy at 130 lbs.
“Rolly Romero had power, but he was flawed and wound up jumping into a big shot. I have not seen Tank Davis take on a fighter as dangerous as Ryan Garcia since Jose Pedraza, and Ryan Garcia is more dangerous than Jose Pedraza. I think Garcia should be favored in a fight like that,” said Mora.
Two different types of power
“It’s a tough one again, but there are different types of power, Mannix, and you’re going to see it clearly if Garcia and Tank Davis ever fight,” said Mora. “Tank Davis has that explosive, heavy-handed, crunching power.
“We know what kind of power Garcia has. It’s speed whipping power. They’re both going to trouble you in different ways. The difference is Garcia can just graze you with that speed and rock you.
“It won’t be as much as that crunching power punch from Tank, but it’s going to shake you. It’s just beautiful. It’s two different types of punchers, and I want to see it,” said Mora.
“Look, we disagree about who would win that fight. We both agree that we want to see that fight,” said Mannix about the Davis vs. Garcia contest.
