By Kenneth Friedman: Unbeaten lightweight phenom Ryan ‘Kingry’ Garcia still needs to get more experience under his belt before he steps up to the big time to take on 135-lb world champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Ryan and Tank Davis aren’t scheduled to fight each other yet. Although Ryan wants that fight, Tank’s management at Mayweather Promotions wants to let the fight marinate longer. In the meantime, Ryan needs some good wins over these top lightweights:
- Jorge Linares
- Luke Campbell
- Javier Fortuna
Fighters, trainers and boxing fans alike believe that the 21-year-old Garcia (20-0, 17 KO-s) isn’t quite ready yet to take on Tank Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) for his WBA lightweight title.
Ryan needs more experience before fighting Tank
Garcia needs a couple of good wins to get him prepared for Tank Davis because he’s still a little green to be taking that fight. The 25-year-old Davis has the edge in experience against Ryan, and he needs to catch up to him.
Ryan spent the better part of this week calling out Tank Davis on social media, daring him to give him a fight so that he can prove to the world that he’s superior to him. The only thing Garcia accomplished with his daily challenges with Tank is to get in a battle of memes, which he ended up losing.
Tank Davis beats Ryan Garcia if he’s well prepared
“Tank,” said super middleweight Denis Douglin to Mayweather Boxing Channel when asked who wins between Tank and Ryan Garcia. “In my personal opinion, Tank against anyone his size. If you get an eight-week camp, Tank, nobody beats him. He’s one of the better boxers of the little guys, and he’s one of the hardest-hitting punchers.
“He’s hitting harder than all of them. I think Shakur Stevenson probably has better boxing skills than Tank, but he’s not punching anywhere near as hard Tank in my opinion. I never. Every person that’s gotten in the ring with Tank has gone down. Every person. He’s the little Deontay Wilder. If you get a prepared Tank, then Tank against anybody,” said Douglin.
The punching power of Tank would give Ryan something to think about. If Ryan gets hit too much by Davis, he’ll hit the deck like his other opponents.
Tank looked gassed out early on in his last fight against former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa last December. It was lucky for Davis that Gamboa was injured early in the fight, and was limping from the 2nd round. The way that Davis was out of breath in the fight, a healthy Gamboa would have had a chance of beating him.
Ryan will have it tough against Tank Davis
“I’m going to keep 100,” said Justin Mayweather when asked to give his opinion on a fight between Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis. “Of course, I think Tank has more professional and meats and bones to be a great fighter. He is a pretty great fighter to me already. Ryan Garcia is already on the come up.
“It would be just a lot of stuff like the missing weight stuff like that [for Tank Davis]. That’s the only thing that concerns me. I don’t think Ryan never had any problems like that. So in the ring skill for skill, Ryan is fast and all that. I think it would be an interesting matchup, but I think Tank would wear him down.
“As long as Tank is ready, I think he’d be straight, and I think Ryan pretty much stays ready. But I think skill-wise and power-wise, I think they both have pretty good speed. Ryan is a bit bigger with the length and things of that nature, but I think Tank would get him later.
“As long as he’s focused and ready, I think he’s straight against Ryan. But I think Ryan stays focused. That’s the Yin and the Yang when you come to that. But I think Tank will win. I pick the Tank,” said Mayweather.
If Ryan tries to punch with Tank Davis the way Gamboa did, he’ll have problems. Ryan could get away with slugging with Tank for a short while, but sooner or later he’s going to get caught with something big and wind up on the canvas. Garcia can’t afford to get hurt against Tank, because he’s a great finisher.
Gervonta too rugged for Kingry Garcia
“I think Tank has more heart than Ryan Garcia,” said Ladarius Miller when asked to give his prediction on Gervonta vs. Ryan Garcia. “Tank has more heart and is the more tougher fighter. So I think he’ll win.”
“Right now, I would take Gervonta,” said Nate Vasquez [trainer for Chris Eubank Jr.] in giving his prediction on Davis vs. Garcia fight. “He’s fought better opposition than Ryan Garcia. I think Ryan Garcia fought the Filipino guy [Romero Duno] in his last fight. He looked good, but that’s the only guy he’s ever fought. So I’m taking Tank.”
“I don’t think Ryan has fought the same level of competition that Tank has fought,” said trainer Chris Ben-Tchavtchavadze. “Ryan is definitely a gifted kid. I’m not sure he’s as sturdy as Tank is. So I see Tank figuring some things out and getting a late stoppage.”
“The way that Tank performed in a 12 round fight against [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, he was dead after three rounds,” said trainer ‘Bullet’ to Mayweather Boxing Channel. “If he pulled that s— against Ryan, I think Ryan is going to throw more punches longer than him. So it’s going to be a fight.
“I know from seeing Ryan Garcia’s work ethic and the way he fights, he has more of a chance of beating Tank than Tank does in beating him. If Tank has his conditioning, Tank knocks his a– out. No condition like his last fight [against Gamboa], he’s going to get his a– beat.”
Tank’s ruggedness is what would be the biggest advantage that he would have over Ryan in a head-to-head match-up. The shots that Tank took against Gamboa, it’s hard to picture Ryan being able to take those same punches without getting hurt.
