By Dan Ambrose: Ryan Garcia needs more experience before he takes on Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, says Leo Santa Cruz. He should know. Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) found out the hard way recently how talented Tank Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) is when he fought him on October 31st and was knocked out in six rounds.
The 22-year-old Ryan (21-0, 18 KOs) isn’t showing much interest in gaining more experience before taking on WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Tank. Ryan says he wants Tank or Manny Pacquiao next, and no one else.
If Ryan is committed to his stance of only wanting to fight those two next, he’s going to be sitting inactive for a while, waiting for his big chance.
Santa Cruz says Ryan has “flaws” that he observed in his last fight against Luke Campbell on January 2nd, a contest in which Garcia was dropped hard in the second round. Leo says if that were Tank that knocked King Ryan down, he would have finished him.
Ryan’s stubborn attitude about wanting to fight Tank or Pacquiao without gaining the prerequisite experience to prepare himself for those fighters is troubling.
It’s as if Ryan is looking to cash-out at the start of his career rather than at the end like we arguably see from fighters like Mikey Garcia and Manny Pacquiao. But when you hear Ryan saying he wants to retire by the time he turns 26, it makes sense why he’s pushing for the Tank and Pacquiao fight now.
Santa Cruz: Tank will knockout Ryan Garcia
“I think it’s a great fight, they both hit hard and have their thing, but right now, I think Ryan needs to get more experience,” said Santa Cruz to Fighthype when asked about whether Ryan Garcia is ready for Gervonta Davis.
“He has his flaws, and he showed it in his last fight when he got caught by [Luke] Campbell. He was wide open, he got caught, and he got dropped.
If Tank catches him like that, he could hurt him and knock him out. I think it’s going to be a hard fight for both, but the experience will be right there, and I think Tank is the one with the experience.
“He [Ryan Garcia] has great power and great speed and everything. He needs more experience,” said Santa Cruz. “And he needs to go more rounds, 12 rounds with fighters with experience, and you’ll get it,” said Santa Cruz.
It’s not just Tank that would give Ryan massive problems with his experience. If Ryan were to face many of the top 15 fighters at 135, he would be at risk of being knocked out. It would be a race against time for him. Either he would knock out his opponent, or they’d get to his chin to stop him.
Will experience help King Ryan?
Santa Cruz isn’t saying what improvements he’d like to see in Ryan’s game, but he would likely want him to stop standing straight up like a stork when he fights. Ryan doesn’t bend his legs to lower his stance, which leaves him wide open for headshots.
Ryan’s thin spindly legs are the likely explanation for why he stands straight up when fighting. His legs are like Tommy Hearns, but unlike him, he stands straight up. Hearns would widen his stance when fighting, which helped him generate more power on his shots. We don’t see that from Ryan, and his legs are likely too weak to fight that way.
Most boxing fans would agree that Ryan is a knockout waiting to happen at this point, and it’s only a matter of time before he gets stopped.
It’s too bad Ryan doesn’t want to develop how old-school fighters like Santa Cruz did before looking to fight Tank.
