Ryan Garcia was in the midst of a training camp and preparing for a January tuneup fight against Mercito Gesta, but on Friday, Garcia announced that he’d no longer be fighting Gesta and instead will heading straight to the Gervonta Davis bout, which is tentatively scheduled for April.
“I had time to think about if I really wanted to do this,” Garcia told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. “Tank has always wanted to do things that are going to make him as comfortable as he could be and as ready as he could be going into a fight. I didn't need to tune up and I don't need to tune up. I want to put on the biggest fights for the fans. So I've decided that I'm done f------ around. I'm ready to go right after Tank.”
The 35-year-old Gesta (33-3-3, 17 KOs) was supposed to offer Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) a stay-busy fight.
Garcia has fought just four times since February 2020. Garcia stepped away from boxing for a 15-month break to focus on his mental health and returned this April with new trainer Joe Goossen to score a unanimous decision win against Emmanuel Tagoe. In July, he knocked out Javier Fortuna.
Should Garcia and Davis fight in April for their agreed-upon, 136-pound catchweight bout, it will mark an eight-month break for Garcia.
“I'm just used to [long layoffs] at this point,” said Garcia. “A lot of my fights have come off layoffs. [Luke] Campbell [in January 2021], that came after about a year off. As long as I'm staying in the gym right now, I'm good. I already feel in amazing shape. So I pretty much am now just focused on preparing my body and my mind as best as I can for that fight with Tank.
“It's not about the money for me. It's not about having easy fights. This is the best thing for me. For my mindset, going into a huge fight, I don't want to be worried about Mercito Gesta real quick. I know they say it's easy, whatever, but I want to really focus on the fight that matters to me and that's Tank.”
Davis, meanwhile, remains all-in for a Showtime pay-per-view lightweight bout against Hector Luis Garcia on Jan. 7 at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.
