Ryan Garcia will arguably be Gervonta Davis’ biggest fan on Jan. 7 when Tank takes on Hector Luis Garcia at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. on Showtime pay-per-view.
Should Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) defeat Hector Luis Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs), rival Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) will be waiting for his crack soon after for a 136-pound catchweight showdown tentatively scheduled to take place on April 15.
“[Hector Luis Garcia is] just not on Tank’s level,” Garcia told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. “I want Tank to knock him out cold. It will make our fight even more interesting.”
On Dec. 16, Garcia declared he was foregoing a January tune-up tilt with Mercito Gesta with the sole focus of next fighting Davis.
“I'm done f------ around,” said Garcia. “I'm ready to go right after Tank … It’s not about the money for me. I’m just not interested in easy fights … I could have been fighting anybody and making a decent amount of money and win and keep all the hype going. But for me, it's really truly about greatness. I've worked so hard to get to this point. Fought for everything my whole life. I've promoted myself really well, and I've done everything I could to get to this point where I make a mega-fight happen.”
Garcia also alluded to having to make compromises during the negotiating process in order for the fight to come to fruition.
One of the major sticking points was whether Showtime, which has distributed Davis’ bouts via PBC, or DAZN, which distributes Garcia’s fights via Golden Boy Promotions, would carry the event.
The PPV will be handled by Showtime’s broadcast and production teams. The super fight can also be purchased on DAZN, but it’s not a joint venture.
“Where there's a will there's a way,” says Garcia. “I guess my will was that strong. Sometimes you have to just say yes, that's really what it is. Say yes to anything, and that's what I did. I said yes to everything and I made sure that I wouldn't give them an excuse to not make the fight happen.
“This is what legends are made of. Everyone is going to be talking about [the fight]… I’m going to be disciplined. I expect to be on fire when we get in the ring.
“Basically, this is my dream. My dream is to be the biggest fighter in the world and to fight the best and put on great shows and inspire the world with truth. And I think this fight will give me that voice. That's what I aspire to do, so I think this fight will really give me that once I beat Tank.”
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.
