By Jef Aronow: Ryan Garcia believes that Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis has “no chance” against him, and that’s not going to last more than two rounds when the two of them battle in 2021.
Ryan says he doesn’t care about the business side of boxing in the negotiations with WBA 135-pound champion Davis. He just wants to make that fight and shock the world.
The young 22-year-old Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) sounds almost obsessed with beating Davis ever since his victory over Luke Campbell last Saturday night.
The fight with Campbell was a WBC lightweight title eliminator, and the winner of the contest was to be the mandatory to champion Devin Haney.
Garcia has no interest in challenging Haney (25-0, 15 KOs), even though it would potentially give him a world title that would strengthen his hand for the negotiations with Tank.
Ryan says Tank Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) will still be a hero to his boxing fans in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.
According to King Ryan, Davis will wake up after being knocked out, and will have a lot of money from the fight, and will be able to go back home to Baltimore for fans.
Ryan Garcia predicting 2nd round knockout
“I felt good, and I felt it was an important moment in my career, and I think that fight showed a lot about me,” said Ryan Garcia to Fighthype.
“They’ll all find out the truth after I beat Gervonta Davis in two rounds. Gervnta, you’re always going to be a hero to Baltimore.
“Don’t worry about losing; it’s going to be okay. You’re going to get off the canvas, and you’re going to be a good person in Baltimore. You’re going to do a lot of great things for that city.
“Don’t worry; it’s going to be quick and painless. When you get hit, it’s going to be painless.
“You’ll fall to the ground, and when you wake up, you’ll have a lot of money. You’ll be in Baltimore like a hero. It’s all good, don’t worry. Let’s go, baby. Two rounds. It’s over,” said Ryan sounding like a troll.
“Some people are saying that ‘Ryan is over his head. He’s writing his death wish,'” said Ryan about his doubters.
“It means nothing. I go into their comments, and I say, ‘Two rounds.’ I want two rounds, and that’s what I think of that. I’m ready; it’s time.
“This is what boxing is all about. There’s no more honest sport than boxing. That’s why it needs to be at the top. It’s the most honest sport in the world,” Garcia said.
It’s unclear if Ryan actually believes what he’s saying, as he sounds like he’s trolling to shock fans and anger Tank. If this is just to get interested in the fight, Ryan is doing a good job thus far.
Garcia: I’m coming straight for Tank
“Canelo was obviously excited, and he loved the performance,” said King Ryan about Canelo Alvarez being proud of him. “It was like a big brother proud of his little brother.
“We talked about it. Obviously, there are little adjustments that have to be made moving forward that I will fix. They’re not unfixable flaws. It was just a lack of concentration.
“It’s just training every day, and I’ll become second-nature. I have the discipline to do it. I know what I need to work on, and I’m telling you that this next fight will be a great one.
“I’m coming straight for Gervonta Davis,” said Ryan.”That’s the man. There’s no doubt in my mind of a second-round knockout. He will not get up. But here’s the thing, Gervonta will always be a hero to Baltimore, but he’s not going to win this fight, no chance.
“I don’t have to, but we need to,” said Ryan Garcia about his goal to fight Tank Davis and dethrone him.
“This is bigger than money. He can fight for whatever he wants to fight for. I fight for a different reason. That’s the difference here, and it’s a big difference.
“It’s going to happen, don’t worry. I’m going to make sure it happens. A second-round knockout, I’m going for it.
“There’s no other fight in my mind other than Gervonta Davis. It will happen. You got to wait and see how it plays out.
“There’s a lot of things we need to work out on. I know we both want the fight.
“There’s a lot of little details that need to be fixed and whatever. The business side of boxing and I don’t really care about that, but we’re going to get it done,” said Garcia.
Ryan sounding obsessed about Davis
“If we go back years ago, it’s a fight that has been sitting in my heart for a while,” continued Ryan about the Tank fight.
“After the Fonseca fight, I gave out a list. I want to fulfill that list. It was actually Linares first, but that didn’t happen because of COVID.
Campbell was the next on the list, and then after Campbell is Gervonta Davis. It’s a fight that I’ve always had in my heart, and it’s finally going to happen.
“This is the moment. And this is where I truly shock the world. This isn’t a slogan that I just made up. It’s for real and shock the world,” said Garcia.
It would be refreshing if Ryan showed interest in fighting some of the other champions at 135. He’s too dialed in about the Davis fight, and it seems odd. There are fighters that he should be talking about wanting to battle.
Vasily Lomachenko would be a good step up for King Ryan to get him ready for Davis. If Ryan wanted to get many fans interested in his match against Tank, he’d face Lomachenko next and show that he can beat him.
Losing focus in the second round
“It showed who I am, and I think I gave the fans an inspiring fight, Ryan said about his win over Campbell.
“That’s what I’m about, giving fans excitement back into boxing and what they deserve for many years to come.
“It’s something that has been missing in boxing for a while now, and I think I’m here to create a movement to bring boxing back to the top where it belongs.
“I felt in control of the fight in round one, and then in round two, you lose focus for one split second,” said Ryan Garcia about being knocked down by Campbell.
“Its not so much the shot that hurts you, I think Luke has a very good snap. But if you don’t see the shot, I wasn’t in focus at that particular moment, which I wasn’t at that moment.
“I lost concentration for a split second and I popped up, and I was kind of thinking something else at the time. I just reacted and ended up getting dropped.
“But I was perfectly fine. I got up, looked at my corner, and told them, ‘I’m alright, don’t worry.’
“And I still felt in control of the fight even after I got knocked down, and I kept doing what I was doing.
“I was on the path to winning anyway, so I kept on doing what I was doing. Everyone says, ‘Why didn’t Campbell go after him?’
“Campbell knew that I was still dangerous, and still ready to fight. I wasn’t out of it. ‘Okay, he dropped me.’ I was surprised, but I was ready to go,” Ryan said.
It wasn’t just the second round that Ryan was losing focus. He was getting hit with straight lefts all through the fight with Campbell.
Garcia knew he would KO Campbell
“Yeah, it’s something I felt in my heart that I was going to knock him out to the body, and that’s something I had a strong feeling about,” Ryan Garcia said about Campbell.
“I worked on taking it to him. Luke Campbell has been boxing his whole life. He’s a natural boxer, and he’s a natural counter puncher.
“He knows how to keep range real well. That’s all he does, and that’s his style, and that’s his natural.
“That’s everything about Luke Campbell, so I knew I had to do something different from what I normally do. I had that mentality going in that ‘I’m not going backward.
‘I’m going forward all night long. There’s no step back. I have to get inside and I have to work him, and then ultimately I would find something sooner or later,'” said Ryan.
Garcia did his homework well in studying Campbell’s fights and going after his midsection.