Gervonta Davis is just a few days away from making his return to the ring. Officially, the hard-hitting star out of Baltimore, Maryland, will take on newly minted WBA super featherweight champion, Hector Luis Garcia.

For the 31-year-old Dominican, his pugilistic mark was made following one helluva 2022 campaign. To kick off his year, Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs) moseyed into the ring as a considerable underdog against Chris Colbert. But, despite being viewed as a stepping stone, Garcia flipped the script, sending the bombastic prospect to the canvas before waltzing to a unanimous decision victory.

Unwilling to simply sit back and soak in his win, Garcia parlayed his unexpected triumph into a world title victory against Roger Gutierrez. Now, for a third time in a row, the former Olympian finds himself as a gargantuan underdog.

Calvin Ford, the head trainer of Davis, is paying no mind, however, to what the betting market has to say. As their showdown draws near, the normally jubilant mood of Ford begins to turn dark. With his fighter holding firm to the first big fight date of the new year, he places one lofty expectation on the shoulders of the pugnacious star.  

“I just want Tank to go in there and give me some highlight reels,” said Ford to BoxingScene.com.

By and large, Davis has delivered on Ford’s wishes time and time again. Most recently, after being forced to listen to the perpetual trash talk of Rolando “Rolly” Romero, Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) thoroughly enjoyed the way their night ended. In front of a jam-packed crowd in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Davis sat back and patiently waited for his opening.

Suddenly, in the sixth round, Davis found the fight-ending shot he was looking for, a straight left hand that stopped Romero dead in his tracks.

While impressive, Ford isn’t looking for Davis to end the night of Garcia with one simple deleterious blow. With a showdown against Ryan Garcia looming, coupled with several mouthwatering matchups against the likes of Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson on the horizon, Ford wants Davis to dish out a beating so horrific, that the rest of the lightweight division feels apprehensive and hesitant about facing him.

“We gonna beat him so bad, that it’s gonna be like, I’m sending a message to the rest of them dudes. We bout to get serious with it. Everybody playing games, we not playing no more.”