Middleweight Elijah Garcia has high hopes for 2024.

Garcia will fight veteran Kyrone Davis in the main event of the Amazon Prime prelims before Tim Tyszu-Sebastian Fundora PPV card on Saturday, March 30 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Garcia had a meteoric rise to fame in 2023. In February, he was in a 50-50 fight with Amilcar Vidal. Garcia halted Vidal and by the end of the year his stoppage win of Jose Armando Resendiz had many believing he could become a future middleweight world champion. Oh, and Garcia can’t even enter a bar yet as he is still only 20. 

“I have to go through Kyrone Davis,” said Garcia to the media via virtual press conference. “I know it’s not going to be an easy fight, but if we get through this one I’d like the winner of Erislandy Lara vs. Michael Zerafa. I’m definitely not looking past Kyrone though.”

Garcia holds a record of 16-0, 13 KOs. He is ranked No. 2 by the WBA, No. 4 by the WBC, No. 5 by the IBF, and No. 11 by the WBO. His eyes seem set on the WBA middleweight title fight occurring later in the evening. The WBA middleweight world champion Lara faces Zerafa, his mandatory challenger. 

Garcia believes a good performance will allow him a chance at his dream – winning a world title.

“Being on the card with a middleweight world title fight was definitely purposeful and whoever gets the job done between Kyrone and I has a shot to get that title fight,” said Garcia. “I have to show the world that I have the experience to fight for the title.”

Garcia’s opponent, 29-year-old Davis, holds a record of 18-3-1, 6 KOs and has had a blue-collar career. It has been filled with short-notice calls to take fights without a full camp and while Davis might not have a perfect record he is an experienced veteran and a true professional. This is best exemplified when he took a late-replacement bout with David Benavidez in 2021. He was stopped in the seventh round, but fared well and now Davis is riding a two-fight win streak. 

“I know that I have to be ready for Kyrone because of the type of fighter he is,” said Garcia. “Being in 50- 50 fights like this keeps me humble. That’s what’s helped me take steps in my career. I just have to keep preparing how I’ve been preparing.”

The middleweight division seems void of starpower currently and Garcia is a young, emerging contender who is one or two great performances away from a world title shot. 

“I feel like I’ve earned what I’ve gotten so far. Kyrone is going to be a good test and another key experience that I need before I fight for the world title. I’ve worked hard for this.”