By Adam Baskin: WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo wants Ryan Garcia to utilize his right hand against the southpaw Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on Saturday night to take advantage of him being vulnerable to those shots.
Charlo notes that he saw how Leo Santa Cruz could tag Gervonta with lead right hands in their fight repeatedly, and he believes Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) needs to do the same.
With that said, Ryan must mix up his punches because Tank will figure him out as he did Santa Cruz if he just throws right hands on Saturday night.
Jermall says he’s betting $10K on Ryan to win the fight, but he’s not sure he will. If Ryan wins, Jermall says it would be “freakish.”
“Ryan is my guy. I got a bigger relationship with Ryan than I do Tank,” said Jermall Charlo to the media today during the final press conference in Las Vegas.
“He might. It’s a wicked a** left hook that he got,” said Jermall when asked if Ryan could knockout Tank Davis. “It’s not all he has. Ryan has got to throw his right hand a lot. You saw how [Leo] Santa Cruz threw a lot of right hands and hit him [Gervonta] a lot. The southpaws are vulnerable to a right hand.
“It’s boxing. The stronger man can win. Speed can win this fight. Power could be a part of this fight. We don’t know.
“I’m doing great. I’m doing way better. I had to get myself better, man,” said Charlo about the personal problems he’d been dealing with for the last two years that have kept him out of action.
“Don’t worry, everybody. It might seem soft. I had to heal myself up. As a man gets stronger, I learned. I took some time away. It’s alright. I’m back.
“I put up 10 [thousand], and I win 20 [thousand] if Ryan knocks his a** out. I just said that if Ryan wins, it’ll be freakish. I don’t think he’s a better fighter than Tank. I like Tank as a fighter, but I don’t think he’s going to just knock him out.
“I like Ryan as a person. We talk and have a relationship outside of boxing. Me and his daddy, we cool. Even before this fight was made, we’ve always been cool with Ryan. He’s cool with my twin brother. I’m not cool with Tank like that.
“Soon,” said Jermall when asked when boxing fans can see him in a fight like this one. “Maybe Demetrius Andrade. He called me the other day. We talked for about an hour, trying to get that s**t done. So y’all heard it first.
“I’ll go straight into it,” said Jermall when asked if he needed a tune-up before facing Andrade. ”
