By Sean Jones: Ryan Garcia took to social media to give Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis a word of encouragement to let him know he needs to defeat Leo Santa Cruz tonight so they can fight in a mega-match next in 2021.
The unbeaten Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) is confident that Tank Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) will beat WBA super featherweight champion Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) in their contest at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
With millions of followers that Ryan Garcia, Tank Davis, Canelo Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Oscar De La Hoya all have on social media, there would be a massive amount of casual boxing fans that would purchase a Davis-Garcia fight on pay-per-view.
The 22-year-old Ryan would obviously be a huge underdog against Davis, but the money would make the fight well worth it for him. Even without Ryan holding a world title, he’ll make a mountain of money against Tank.
A lot of money to be made
Ryan is famous for social media rather than what he’s done inside the ring, and it’s unclear whether he’ll ever win a world title. But that won’t keep him from making huge dough against Tank Davis and whoever else after him.
The social media followers of the top fighters and promoters associated with a fight between Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis would result in a lot of pay-per-view buys.
Gervonta let’s go, you got this 🥊🥊 ps I just want to fight you next so win! #DavisSantaCruz
— Ryan Garcia (@KingRyanG) October 31, 2020
What Ryan Garcia conveniently left out is he needs to defeat Luke Campbell next in their fight on December 5th on DAZN. That’s a match that a lot of boxing fans see as a toss-up contest. The UK boxing fans mostly see Campbel, 33, winning that fight.
In a perfect world, Ryan Garcia will beat Campbell and Davis will defeat Santa Cruz tonight to set-up a Davis-Garia mega-fight in early 2021. Unfortunately, there’s too much that can go wrong.
Davis looked like he crawled out of a prison camp last Friday at the weigh-in, and he does not look good at all physically. In contrast, Santa Cruz looked the best he’s ever been. He’s filled out and looking strong now at 130.
Ryan Garcia needs to beat Luke Campbell
If Ryan loses to Campbell, it’s going to be a tough sell for Tank Davis to face him on Showtime pay-per-view. It’s quite possible that Tank’s promoters at Mayweather Promotions will still make the fight with Ryan even if he loses to Campbell.
If Mayweather Promotions are counting on selling the Davis-Garcia fight to casual boxing fans on Showtime pay-per-view, they’ll likely take the chance that a lot of fans won’t be aware that Ryan lost his last fight. It would look bad on Davis’ part to face Ryan with him coming off of a loss, but he’s used to being criticized for his opponent selection.
For example, instead of Tank Davis facing Vasily Lomachenko, Devin Haney, or Teofimo Lopez, he fought 38-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa last December. We’re getting the same thing from Davis.
He’s not fighting Lomachenko, Teofimo, or Haney. He’s taking on Santa Cruz, a fighter that struggled to beat Miguel Flores last November. Flores came into the fight with Santa Cruz having lost 2 out of his last 3 fights.