By Allan Fox: Leo Santa Cruz has a warning for Ryan Garcia about Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ power if he plans on going ahead with his plans on fighting the unbeaten WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion this year.
Leo believes Gervonta, 27, has too many skills and throws more shots than the 23-year-old Ryan. Additionally, it’s a collosol step up in class for Kingry to go from fighting Javier Fortuna and Emmanuel Tagoe to battling Tank Davis.
The former four-division world champion Santa Cruz is one of the best fighters at 126 but was knocked cold in the sixth round by Tank Davis in their fight in October 2020.
Santa Cruz points out that the unbeaten Tank (27-0, 25 KOs) disguises his power and delays using it his opponents get accustomed to getting hit with his softer shots. After a while, Tank will suddenly unload with full strength on them to score knockouts.
At this early stage in Ryan’s career, he only has his left hook as a weapon to go up against Tank Davis, and that might not be enough.
Ryan needs more tools to his offensive arsenal for him to have a real shot of beating Tank Davis, and he’s not likely to acquire them soon enough to keep from being knocked out.
“That’s a good fight. Ryan Garcia is a great fighter, and he has the power,” said Leo Santa Cruz to Fighthype when asked to give his thoughts on a Tank Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fight. “The only thing, Tank has more skills, and he’s been there more active.
“He [Tank Davis] throws more punches. Ryan Garcia is trying to deliberately knock you out with a hook or one-two punches,” Santa Cruz continued.
“It’s going to be a good fight, but if Tank catches him, he could knock him out. Also, Ryan could hurt Tank Davis, so it’s a pretty even fight. If I had to bet something, I probably think Tank Davis.
“He brings it out of nowhere,” said Santa Cruz about Tank. “I was there with him, I was banging, and I didn’t feel his power at first. Then he caught me with that good shot he has out of nowhere, and he caught me. It happens. Any second, the fight can change,” said Santa Cruz.
