By Craig Daly: Teddy Atlas believes Ryan Garcia’s huge size & weight is the x-factor working for him or against him in his battle against Gervonta Davis this Saturday night.
Atlas notes that Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) is huge at this point in his career, and that could be a problem for him making weight and then dealing with the rehydration clause.
If the 5’10” Ryan is careful, he can use his height & reach to his advantage by keeping the 5’5″ Tank (28-0, 26 KOs) bottled up on the outside, unable to get in close enough to land his power punches.
Gervonta has got massive power, but he needs his taller opponents to get in range for him to land. When they’re on the outside fighting smart, Tank is unable to do much, and he quickly falls behind.
With the weight stipulations that Gervonta’s management has smartly put into the contract, it could effectively turn Ryan’s size advantage into a disadvantage if he’s weakened by the 136-lb catchweight and 10-lb rehydration clause.
Ryan must be at right range for jab
“Part of the danger point is that Garcia better not step out from too close because Tank can catch you coming, and he can catch you going,” said Teddy Atlas to The Fight, discussing the Tank Davis vs. Ryan Garcia fight.
Tank could very well catch Ryan when he’s backing out or coming in if he’s careless on Saturday night like we witnessed in his fight with Luke Campbell.
“Yeah, we know he can catch you inside, but he can also catch you going out, so he [Ryan] better be careful. He also should be careful that he doesn’t throw his jab from too close where he can get timed because Tank knows how to counterpunch, and he’s a southpaw, and he gives problems from that side.
“So Garcia better be on his p’s and q’s and fight a consistent fight, disciplined fight. He’s going to want to use his jab, but he’s going to want to use it at the right range where he doesn’t open up to where he’s open to any counter opportunities, to control the outside space of the ring.
“I think he’s going to want to do what I would have worked on by giving little subtle angles instead of in and out. Tank’s a smart guy, and he’s got a good boxing IQ in that ring, where if you’re just going in & out, he’ll pick up on that. So give little angles. That’s something you got to in the gym by being taught that. You don’t do that in the corner. That’s for Garcia.
“Everybody is looking for Garcia’s left hook because he has a great left hook, a great counter left hook. Don’t forget. Everyone is talking about Tank being such an explosive puncher and can hurt Garcia.
“Ryan is an explosive puncher, too, with that left hook. He can hurt him, but it might be the right hand against the southpaw. He’s really got a lot of responsibility in this fight against Davis. Not just the left hook.
“Of course, the jab. That’ll help control the distance and keep Davis busy. For Davis, he’s either got to be close or get the other guy to come close to him,” Teddy said.
Tank can’t forget his jab
“Set traps; he’s good at setting traps. He did that with that guy Rolly,” Atlas said. “He set a trap, got Rolly to come in, and bang. He dropped the trap on him. You’ve got to be aware of that.
“That’s where feints will come in for Garcia. Hopefully, he’s worked on that where you give a feint to see if there’s a trap there before you go there. Give a little feint to make the trap show itself so you don’t walk into it.
“Again, those are all sweet science things that have to be gone over in the gym and be taught. These guys have got good trainers. I’m sure those things have been done because it only takes one mistake.
“I think with Davis, people think about the big left hand, the power. He better use his jab. We all think of jab for Garcia to win. You better think the same thing with Davis. He needs his jab so that he doesn’t get dominated by the jab of the longer, taller guy. So he will need that jab. It’s very important for both,” said Teddy.
X-factor = Weight
“One other x-factor. Weight, size. It’s a catchweight at 136, not 136, the title weight,” Atlas said. “I don’t know if it hurts Garcia because he’s gotten so big in the last two years. He has grown. I know he’s still filling out, he’s a younger guy, and he’s got a bigger skeleton; he’s got a bigger frame than Davis, so it makes sense.
“He’s gotten so big. I don’t know if he’s on a weight program. I don’t know what it is, but he’s gotten so big, and he looks strong,” Atlas said about Ryan. “I hope that’s not the whole reason he’s taking the fight because he feels he’s stronger than Davis because Davis is pretty strong in a different way.
“The size of Garcia, that could be an advantage. His strength, his size, but it could be a disadvantage too because if he has trouble making that weight because he has to compromise himself making the weight.
“Not only does he have to make the weight, but the next morning, he has to make weight again. They have a rehydration clause in there that Tank Davis’ people very smartly put in there where he [Ryan] can’t be more than ten pounds over 136.
“So, he’s got to come in no more than 146 the next morning. So if he’s killing himself, I think there’s a chance that it’s going to be hard to make 136 and he’s talked about that before.
“So, if he’s really having trouble making 136 and he wants to rehydrate the night before, which is when you have to do it. If you’re restricting his ability to do that by putting a ten-pound rehydration clause on the next day, you could have a problem there,” said Atlas.
