By Sean Jones: Trainer Robert Garcia says Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ win over Ryan Garcia was impressive, but it still didn’t establish him as the ‘Face of Boxing’ like he’s referring to himself.
Robert feels that Canelo Alvarez is still the face of boxing for at least three more fights before he surrenders that distinction to Tank Davis.
In this writer’s view, Tank Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) still must beat these top dogs at 135 for him to become the face of the sport:
- Shakur Stevenson
- Devin Haney
- Frank Martin
- Vasily Lomachenko
It’s not enough that Gervonta defeated the previously untested 24-year-old Ryan Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) because that guy never fought anyone good before last Saturday night. When Ryan had chances to test himself against Haney, he chose not to.
Ryan Garcia was too hurt to continue
“Tank is bad a**, bro. He hit him with a good body shot,” said Robert Garcia to ESNEWS about Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ seventh round knockout win over Ryan Garcia last Saturday night. “It was a good body shot. Body shots hurt.
“Did you see Marcos Maidana vs. Amir Khan? Castillo vs. Ricky Hatton. Sometimes you can’t get up. Those body shots are tough, man. When you get hit to the body, you can’t get up.
“When he [Ryan Garcia] got hit, he backed up and it was too much. He still tried to hold it up, but he couldn’t. Imagine if it had been uglier with Tank on top of him, throwing punches.
“In those fights, nobody loses. Everybody’s happy, everybody wins. Ryan didn’t get knocked out cold. He got up and continues his career. Work on a few little things,” Robert said.
Tank not face of boxing yet
“That s**t was awesome. It was the biggest event of the year,” said Garcia. “He [Tank Davis] is the real deal. In a few fights from now, when Canelo retires, he’s going to be the face of boxing. Everybody is going to want to fight him, and he’s going to get all the big fights.
“He’s going to get all the Cinco de Mayo weekends and the Mexican Independence Day in September. He’s going to get those days against Mexicans. It’s going to be bad a**.
“How many fighters, win or lose, would give their lives up to be in the position Ryan is right now with social media with those big fights, with pay-per-view? The gates going to be close to twenty million, maybe even a little bit more. Who does s**t like that?
“A rematch would be nice. Everybody was there. Ryan should be proud of himself because he put the whole world together to watch that fight. A lot of people streamed it. A lot of us paid for it, but everybody knew about it. It is [bigger than any other fight in boxing], and that’s why he should be proud of himself,” said Garcia.
135 still possible for Ryan
“There are so many fights out there [at 140 for Ryan], even at 135,” Robert said. “He weighed in at 136, so he can still do 135. He can be champion at 135.
“I like Loma’s style. He’s so f***g talented, but he’s just too small for Haney. I think Haney wins a decision, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Loma dominates like he did against [Jorge] Linares, just smart and outclasses him. Loma has the skills. I could see him pulling off a decision where he outclasses Haney.
“Haney is just the bigger man, younger and faster. So I think I’d put my money on Haney, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Loma is so talented that he has a lot of tricks, and Haney might not see what’s coming.
“What I’m impressed with of his performance was not only his last one against Ryan but his previous ones where we thought, ‘He was losing rounds to Hector Garcia,'” Robert said about Gervonta. “He was losing rounds to Barrios, to Santa Cruz. Now, Ryan was actually doing alright in a couple of rounds.
“So there’s always that question, ‘Maybe he’s not that good.’ Nah, he plays it like that. He’s smart. That mother f***er is smart. He’s got a great trainer behind him [Calvin Ford], and he’s done a great job. Those guys are smart and have been with him many years.
“So they know him already so good. They can’t fail. They can’t miss it. They’re going to hit it all the time. That’s the way boxing should be,” said Robert about Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis hugging & exchanging numbers after their fight, showing that there was no bad blood.
Standing alone at post-fight press conference
“They’re pleasing millions of people, so you got to respect each other always,” said Robert about Oscar De La Hoya receiving death threats. “Was he at the fight? When was the threat? Before the fight?
“I’m not saying he didn’t, and that’s why he didn’t show up because people can get threats. We’ve had those before, and I’ve had those before. Don’t listen to them. I’ve had those threats before. In the end, we find out who it was, and then we f**k them up.
“Why did security not want him to go to the [post-fight] press conference when very few people were at the press conference? Why didn’t they just take them out of the arena? There were 20,000 people there. Some of those people could have been the ones threatening him.
“So there’s that question. If that’s the reason he [De La Hoya] didn’t go to the [post-fight] press conference where all the media guys are people that you actually know who they are. Twenty thousand people in the arena that you didn’t know who they were.
“That’s where he had the danger. Someone from far away. Someone getting close to him. You know what I mean? With Hopkins, I don’t know what happened with him. They said that PBC threw him out.
“Come on, man. Who the f**k believes that s**t? That’s why they kicked him out of [post-fight press conference]?” said Robert about Bernard Hopkins.
“If De La Hoya got threats, it happens all the time. I’m not saying it didn’t but is that the reason you didn’t go to the [post-fight] press conference? It’s kind of questionable, kind of weird. Why wouldn’t he?
“Maybe there was a good reason. So if there were threats, then I don’t blame him either. It’s his fighter, so you have to show up at the press conference. If he didn’t, something bad happened. Something serious.
“What Ryan had was before the fight. He’s just a star. That itself is impressive. That really is impressive. What he’s done to get his following and people going to his fights,” said Robert about Ryan.
