By Adam Baskin: Former WBA ‘regular’ light welterweight champion Mario Barrios has confirmed that he, too, had a rehydration clause for his fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in June 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Barrios, 27, says he didn’t want to use the rehydration clause as an excuse for his loss because he’d agreed to it in the contract for the fight.
When Barrios (27-2, 18 KOs) defended against Tank Davis, he had a rehydration clause while the champion, which is unheard of in the sport. Mario isn’t saying how many pounds that rehydration clause was for the fight at 140.
Barrios doesn’t say whether the rehydration clause was a condition for him to get the big payday fight against Tank, but that’s something fans would think would be the case.
Tank Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) has taken a lot of heat for using a 136-lb catchweight and a 10-lb rehydration clause for his fight last Saturday night against Ryan Garcia.
Many boxing fans felt that this weight handicap was totally needed by the former three-division world champion Gervonta against the inexperienced Golden Boy-promoted Ryan because he’d never fought A-level competition during his career, and he was a fish out of water going up against an elite fighter.
Ryan was just some guy with 10 million Instagram followers and a resume filled with no-name opposition. To say that Ryan Garcia was an ‘unproven fighter’ before fighting Gervonta last weekend was putting it lightly.
The state boxing commissions must collectively make rehydration clauses illegal throughout the U.S. so that A-side fighters can’t utilize them to gain an advantage over their opponents and stay on top of the sport artificially by having handicaps for their fights.
If a popular A-side fighter can repeatedly use rehydration clauses to weaken their opposition, they can keep their spot longer than they otherwise would.
Breaking 🚨
Mario Barrios had a rehydration clause in his contract vs Tank Davis❓
Wow‼️#Boxing pic.twitter.com/f98TLeZ75p
— AccordingToBoxing (@AccordToBoxing) April 27, 2023
Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney has already said that he won’t agree to a rehydration clause for a fight against Gervonta. So if that’s a condition that Tank and his management sets for a fight with Haney, they’re going to be out of luck and will need to go in another direction.
That means Tank will start getting pressure to face Shakur Stevenson next. If Davis is not fighting Haney, that leaves the former two-division world champion Shakur as the most logical choice.
One gets the sense from Tank’s resistance in talking about Stevenson that he wants no part in fighting him due to his incredible talent. As such, it might be a good idea for Tank Davis to forget about trying to ramrod a rehydration clause down the throat of Haney as a condition for them to fight.
If Tank Davis isn’t confident enough to fight at 135 or 140 without rehydration clauses, perhaps he needs to move back down to 130, where they’re unnecessary.
