By Jim Calfa: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ trainer Calvin Ford wants Ryan Garcia to “stop crying” about the rehydration clause because it looks like he’s hunting for an “excuse” to tell the fans afterward when he loses on Saturday night in their fight.
Ford says that Tank (28-0, 26 KOs) has to deal with the same weight stipulations that Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) does, so he doesn’t want to hear him crying anymore about it to the media.
Ryan & Tank will fight in the DAZN & Showtime PPV main event this Saturday, April 22, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ford says he wants Ryan to back up his talk by betting his entire purse for the fight because that would mean a lot more. Ryan’s dad, Henry Garcia, said that he’s NOT putting his purse, and he wants people to stop talking about it and “concentrate” on the fight.
“Dealing with a kid that’s coming in the gym, you never know what’s going to happen, but he stuck with it. He believed in what we were teaching him, and he seen the vision. Then he started taking over the division, and that’s where we’re at now,” said Calvin Ford to Fight Hub TV, when asked if he ever believed that Gervonta Davis would make it this far in his career when he first turned pro nine years ago in 2004.
“When Tank was coming up, he loved the lights. He loved people looking at him. He loved it. That’s why I said that they don’t understand that at this level, you’re going to see a Tank that’s unbelievable because he liked this type of showing,” said Ford.
Ryan Garcia wanted this fight
“The only thing I’m saying is I hope Garcia brings the best out of him,” Ford said. “I’m still looking for that fighter that I could hit my chest and say, ‘Yo, that fighter.’ I’m not going to say no. I’m not going to say that because I’m fasting, and my mind thought is different.
“I can only wait until that night when they get in the ring and see what he’s [Ryan Garcia] is bringing. What I can say is it’s different because of the coach that we’re facing. Joe [Goosen] is smooth. He’s been with his dad for a long period of time.
“I wouldn’t say it worries me, but it makes me think how long he wanted this fight, Garcia. He wanted this fight for so long before the Rollys, before all of them was mentioned. He wanted this fight. His promoter [Oscar De La Hoya] said, ‘You ain’t ready for Tank.’
“Now you see everybody on board. So they must believe in their guy. So we got our belief, and they got their belief. Let’s let the beliefs meet up in the ring that night and do what they do.
“He’s undefeated; he’s been knocking his guys out. He’s ready,” said Ford when asked if Ryan Garcia is ready for Tank Davis. “He’s ready. You can’t take that from him. So when I sit there and look at a guy that went through everything to make the fight happen, and he’s here.
Rehydration works both ways
“The only thing, stop crying about the weight stuff. Tank got to do the same thing,” said Ford. “Stop crying about it. Nah, because he keeps bringing it up, and we know in boxing that’s not the truth. You can drink water. You can do certain things.
“It’s especially better when you get off the scale. So stop doing it, man. Stop doing it. Trust me; it’s like you’re trying to find an excuse. Don’t do it, man. Just go in there and put on a fantastic show.
“They [the fans] don’t know. That’s not the truth. The same thing Ryan has to do is the same thing Tank has to do. They both have to do the same thing. So stop it, Ryan. Stop it.
“He’s been coming into the gym happy. He’s ready,” Ford said about Gervonta’s mood this week. “Sometimes you go into big fights; you wonder if your fighter is ready. Looking at him, he’s calm. That incident with the betting, he was calm there.
“I’m seeing things that I’m not used to out of him, so that’s telling me a lot about him now. He’s growing to be who he’s going to become. It’s real with Tank. He don’t care,” said Ford when asked about his thoughts on Tank Davis’ purse bet with Ryan.
Tank will test Ryan’s chin
“Coach Kenny said, ‘People always talk about they want to fight you,” said Ford. “Tell them to put up their money.’ We had a show called, ‘Put Up or Shut Up.’ If you want to take that talk, be about it. Put it all up. Everybody is still going to get paid. You just not going to get what you was supposed to get.
“Again, it makes the fight more serious when you putting everything on the line. Nobody going home with nothing but one thing. The winner. You see how the fights would be? Then it would mean something,” said Ford when asked what boxing would be like if the winner took everything and the loser nothing.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it happens,” said Ford when asked if he thinks the purse bet will happen for Saturday’s Ryan Garcia vs. Tank Davis fight. “You’ll really feel it. Not just the winning side. You happy that you got the win, but when you lose, you’re going to feel it.
“You got to look at it. We train for so many months for that moment in the ring. Money has been spent even before the fight has happened. So now you walk away with the real prize, you walk away.
“We’re in your camp, man. Even though you’re in your garage, we’re in your camp,” said Ford when asked how he found out about Ryan Garcia getting hurt by one of his sparring partners. “It was in sparring. He was talking about going to Tank’s body. You better tighten up your body.
“We don’t getting to that. Right now, I want to see what his chin is made of. I don’t know what Tank is going to go out and do. I don’t really know.
“It’s a process with us. We have a method for how we work and what not. I got to see what Joe tells him to do, and then I work from there,” said Ford.
