Mercito Gesta calls out Ryan Garcia, Tank Davis & William Zepeda after beating Diaz

By Boxing News - 03/19/2023 - Comments

By Adam Baskin: Mercito ‘No Mercy’ Gesta (34-3-3, 17 KOs) says he wants the big names at 135 next following his 10 round split decision win over Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz (32-4-1, 15 KOs) last Saturday night, calling out William Zepeda, Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis.

While Gesta would like to fight Ryan or Tank next, he understands both are busy and not a realistic option for his next fight. He feels that #3 WBA, #5 WBC & #6 WBO William Zepeda (27-0, 23 KOs) is a fight that he hopes could be made.

Zepada, 26, is coming off of a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win over Joseph Diaz last year on October 29th, beating him by the scores 118-110, 119-109, and 119-109.

Like Gesta, Zepeda is a volume puncher with more power and is nine years younger. However, what we saw from Gesta last night is he’s fighting like someone in their mid-20s, and he hasn’t aged like normal fighters.

Ultimately, it’ll be up to Golden Boy Promotions to risk putting Zepeda in with a killer like Gesta.

Shakur Stevenson was recently interested in fighting Zepeda, but Golden Boy didn’t pull the trigger on that match-up for apparent reasons.

Whether Golden Boy would be comfortable letting Zepeda fight Gesta is the central question. Gesta has better hand speed and focuses on volume punching as Zepeda does. The movement and hand speed of Gesta might be too much for Zepeda, though.

Gesta, 35, used his blazing hand speed, beautiful combinations, and movement and did an excellent job following his corner’s instructions to defeat the former IBF super featherweight champion Diaz in the main event at The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California.

The scores:

  • 91-99 – Gesta
  • 92-98 – Gesta
  • 97-93 – Diaz

“I was trying to move around. I think in the third round, I tried to go toe-to-toe with Diaz. That was my mistake because my corner told me not to get too emotional,” said Mercito Gesta to Fighthype after his upset victory over Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz last Saturday night in Long Beach, California.

“At 135, I want one of the best, and the best right now is Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis. Those are in my weight division, and I want to fight them. But to get there, I need to prove myself to be able to fight.

“Right now, with Ryan and Tank being busy, I think what would be bigger for me would be [William] Zepeda. I would love to fight. I don’t know how to speak Spanish, but my message to Zepeda is if he doesn’t have an opponent to fight, let’s make it happen.

“As a fighter, you want to be emotional, but that’s not how it’s supposed to be. So, I tried to move around and stick around. JoJo is a heck of a fighter.

“In the third round, I wanted to stay there and go toe-to-toe to get into his head. That was my mistake. I tried to listen to my corner, my dad, Marvin, and move around. ‘That’s not your game. That’s his game.’

“Every time I moved around, stick the jab and counter and not let him do this thing. That was my key. He has good experience as well. Sometimes he would get in and do his thing, but in the end, I’m moving around, trying to throw my jab and counter and do little bursts to win the fight.

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