Ryan Garcia considers Gervonta Davis “a little Mike Tyson.”

The undefeated lightweight contender means that as a compliment. Garcia wasn’t praising the unbeaten WBA world lightweight champion when he compared Davis to another maligned heavyweight champion.

Garcia likened Davis to Sonny Liston and questioned the young knockout artist’s passion for boxing during an appearance on Impact Network’s “Stars And Champions.” The second episode of the half-hour show, hosted by former ESPN boxing writer and BoxingScene.com contributor Dan Rafael, will debut Friday night at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.

The 21-year-old Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) told Rafael that he wants to battle Baltimore’s Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) more than he wants to challenge two other young, elite lightweight title-holders – IBF champion Teofimo Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) or WBC champ Devin Haney (24-0, 15 KOs).

“I’m ready for it, no matter who it is – Teofimo, Devin, Gervonta,” Garcia said. “But my personal opinion, what I really wanna do, I really wanna fight Gervonta Davis. You wanna know why? I see him as Sonny Liston. … He don’t really love boxing. I see that he loves the money. So, he don’t need to be world champion. I’m like Muhammad Ali. I need to be world champion. He can’t represent it like me. So, that’s my attitude coming into it. And I’m ready to prove those words.”

Ali was a 6-1 underdog the first time he beat Liston in February 1964 in Miami. Ali won the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles when Liston refused to continue due to a shoulder injury following the sixth round.

Ali knocked out Liston with the infamous “phantom punch” in the first round of their rematch 15 months later in Lewiston, Maine.

Garcia also explained to Rafael why he would beat the shorter Davis, a powerful southpaw whom Garcia considers predictable.

Davis, who owns the WBA’s secondary lightweight title, has gone back and forth on social media with Garcia regarding who would win their fight. Garcia, a native of Victorville, California, is the WBA’s second-ranked contender at 135 pounds.

Ukraine’s Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) is the WBA’s “super” champion in the lightweight division.

Impact Networks is available in more than 80 million homes in the United States. “Stars And Champions” also can be viewed on watchimpact.com, where Impact Network’s channel number on various cable and satellite systems also can be found. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.