By Ryan Burton
On Friday night, hot super featherweight prospect Ryan Garcia (15-0) passed his toughest test to date when he defeated former title challenger Jayson Velez (26-5) via unanimous decision in Carson, Calif.
The final scores were 99-91 on all three scorecards but the scores don't indicate the competitiveness of the bout.
Garcia had predicted a fourth round stoppage, but the veteran Velez extended him the full ten round distance.
Prior to the fight, the ultra-confident and cocky Garcia called out unbeaten WBA super featherweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis, saying that Tank should fight him now and not wait until he gets more experience.
After the performance on Friday night, Davis’ trainer Kevin Cunningham found Garcia’s comments to be comical.
“This kid should never ever mention Gervonta Davis name again,” Cunningham told BoxingScene.com.
“Ryan Garcia wouldn’t make it out of the second round with Tank. The kid needs to stop running his mouth and focus on learning his craft. There’s levels to this sh*t!”
Davis steamrolled former champion Jesus Cuellar in three rounds last month at the Barclays Center in New York to capture his world title. The fight was his first under the guidance of Cunningham who had this advice for Garcia, “He’s a prospect with a lot to learn.”
The contest with Cueller was Davis' first since last August, when he lost the IBF title on the scale for his failure to make the super featherweight limit. He still went forward to pick up a stoppage win over Francisco Fonseca as part of the undercard to the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor pay-per-view.
Following the weight snafu and issues with his home surroundings, Davis sought out the services of Cunningham to help him polish his skills and grow further as a fighter.
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