By Vince D’Writer: For approximately two years, Ryan “KingRy” Garcia pleaded for the opportunity, and now on Saturday, April 22nd, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Garcia will receive his chance to face his arch-rival Gervonta “Tank” Davis live on Showtime pay-per-view.
(Photo credit: Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions)
Coming into the highly anticipated bout, both fighters are young, undefeated, and have large fanbases. Since the announcement of the fight, an overwhelming majority of people in the boxing community are picking Davis to defeat Garcia by way of knockout.
Gervonta Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) built his fanbase on the strength of his ability to produce the highlight reel style knockout. Despite the fact that he is a knockout artist, some tend to ignore the actuality that Davis is also an incredibly skilled boxer who has a high ring IQ.
The 24-year-old Ryan Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) is a fast, hard-hitting boxer who constructed his fanbase organically by way of social media. Garcia and his fans feel confident in regards to Garcia pulling off the upset, but according to the general public, Ryan’s chances of defeating Tank are slim to none.
Most people believe Tank Davis possesses an overall skill set that is levels above what Ryan Garcia brings to the table. However, Ryan has a weapon that could be the wild card in his bout with Davis.
Back in June 2021, Gervonta Davis faced Mario Barrios, a man who is bigger, but has a similar build to Ryan Garcia. With 2:09 left to go in the 8th round, Davis landed a gazelle hook that sent Barrios down to the canvas. Barrios was able to get up, but he went back down seconds later when Davis landed a big left-hand shot.
After Davis scored the 10-7 round, Mario Barrios, nicknamed El Azteca, showed his heart as he came back in the ninth round and landed a solid left hook. Davis did a little shuffle dance trying to show that the punch didn’t hurt him, but most people believe Gervonta Davis was affected by the punch.
This particular moment of the Davis-Barrios clash is highlighted because Ryan Garcia’s most potent weapon is the left hook. On multiple occasions, Garcia has pointed out how Davis gets hit by his opponents, and Garcia believes if he can touch Davis in a similar way, he can be victorious on April 22nd.
Ryan Garcia’s left hook is a laser-quick punch that he has routinely landed up top to knock out his opponents. Garcia lands the left hook in a variety of ways, as he is also capable of ending a fight by connecting with the left hook to the body of his opposition.
Davis is well aware of Garcia’s go-to punch, as he’s made reference to it on multiple occasions. Going into the fight, Davis feels confident in regards to winning the mega fight because he believes Garcia is a one-dimensional fighter who is extremely dependent on landing his signature left hook.
Ryan Garcia is going into his clash with Gervonta Davis feeling optimistic because he knows he’s the most dangerous opponent that Tank has ever faced. Garcia’s hand speed is elite, and his punching power is real.
On paper, when you go down the checklist, the results of the computations will tell you Gervonta Davis should come out of the bout victorious, but you can’t count Garcia out because he’s in possession of the wildcard.
In the past, Davis has been hit by his opponents, but he hasn’t been hit with the power and velocity that Ryan Garcia is capable of delivering. Garcia’s left hook is lightning quick, short, powerful, and accurate.
One of the biggest questions going into the fight is, how will Gervonta Davis respond if he gets hit by a Garcia left hook? Will it set the tone for the fight? Will Davis go down for the first time? Will Davis be able to walk through Garcia’s signature punch?
Because Ryan Garcia is good at setting it up, he should be able to land a left hook, and at that point, we will receive the answer to the question. However, Davis doesn’t care to give us the answer to the question because he plans on avoiding the punching power of Garcia.
“This camp, I’m working on my defense. I’m not trying to get hit with none of them punches,” Davis stated during episode one of the All-Access series, which is currently airing on Showtime.
The boxing game has levels to it, and Gervonta “Tank” Davis is currently rated a level above Ryan Garcia. Despite the gap in overall skills, if Ryan Garcia is able to successfully set up, and land his lightning-quick money shot, the night of April 22nd could be a very interesting night of boxing.