By Adam Baskin: Ryan Garcia says he knows now that he did indeed have a spy in his camp reporting that he’d been hurt by his sparring partner 2016 Mongolian Olympian Erdenebat Tsendbaatar in training for his fight last Saturday night against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in Las Vegas.
If Ryan had immediately fired all his sparring partners after the leak, he could have ended any possibility of further leaks from whoever was passing along the information to Gervonta’s camp.
This writer had recommended that Ryan’s training team fire all sparring partners and start from scratch to ensure that they got the mole that was burrowed into the camp, leaking information to help Tank, who didn’t need the assistance of any kind, be it, spies, rehydration clauses or catchweights to win this fight.
That was overkill to the max and pathetic beyond belief, showing insecurity and mental weakness on Tank Davis’ part.
Erdenebat Tsendbaatar (5-0, 3 KOs), a lightweight prospect, came out for some reason and confirmed that he was the one that hurt Ryan Garcia in sparring and asked if he was ok. However, it’s unclear whether it was the 26-year-old Tsendbaatar that leaked the information to Tank Davis’ camp or someone else, but obviously, it’s a bad look on his part to admit that he hurt Ryan in camp openly. After this, it’s difficult to imagine that he’ll get sparring work in the future.
The 5’4″ Tsendbaatar was easily beaten by Shakur Stevenson in a one-sided contest in the 2016 Olympics in a fight that showed the lack of power & hand speed of the Mongolian.
What’s unclear is how Ryan was hurt to the body by Tsendbaatar because he’s not a big puncher, but perhaps Kingry isn’t accustomed to taking shots downstairs.
Erdenebat Tsendbaatar’s comment:
“Hey, King Ryan, I injured you with body shot. Now you lost to Tank. I am sorry. Are you ok?” said Ryan’s sparring partner 2016 Mongolian Olympian Erdenebat Tsendbaatar on social media.
Ryan Garcia’s reaction:
“Actually sad that I had a mole in my camp. Like, what the f**k. That’s crazy, but thank God it’s brought to light now. Also, didn’t mean that to come off as an excuse. I’m just shocked that part of my team crossed me, someone, close to me. Unbelievable, but it’s a testimony that you must be aware of anyone.”
‼️ Ryan Garcia confirms he had a mole in his camp before the Gervonta Davis fight after 5-0 Mongolian sparring partner Erdenebat Tsendbaatar speaks out about hurting him to the body in sparring (something Gervonta knew about before the fight)… pic.twitter.com/lnJjjDVDIw
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 24, 2023
