Ryan Garcia will take his first step towards a rematch with Gervonta Davis when he faces Oscar Duarte twelve days from now on December 2nd on DAZN at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
The popular Golden Boy star Ryan (23-1, 19 KOs) insists he’ll beat Gervonta in their rematch to avenge his seventh round knockout loss last April.
Ryan can’t afford to look past Duarte (26-1, 21 KOs) because this guy is tough, and will be looking to use the Tank Davis fight as a cookbook recipe to follow on December 2nd.
Depending on how desperate Tank Davis’ management at Mayweather Promotions are for a big payday fight against a relatively safe opponent, they might pull the trigger on the rematch with Ryan after his match against Duarte.
Mayweather Promotions & Premier Boxing Champions can’t afford to wait to see if Ryan defeats the likes of Devin Haney or Teofimo Lopez because both of those guys would very likely beat him. That would make a Tank vs. Ryan rematch worthless and not the money grab that Mayweather Promotions & PBC might hope.
Ryan Garcia wants his rematch with Tank
“I want to get my rematch at the right weight. He knows it wasn’t who I really was, I’m way better than that, and I’m better than him. I don’t care if he beat me,” said Ryan Garcia to Fight Hub TV about wanting a rematch with Gervonta Davis.
“I’m better than him. Give me my rematch, and I’ll beat him. If I’ve got to go through a Teofimo Lopez or a Devin Haney to get that, then I’m going to do it,” said Ryan.
It was obvious that Ryan Garcia was out of his depth against Tank Davis, and that’s not going to change much after his gimme against the little known lightweight fringe contender Duarte.
Ryan was overmatched against Gervonta, and the Baltimore native probably could have knocked him out in the second round if he’d wanted to. After dropping Ryan, Tank appeared to back off and allow him to survive.
If Gervonta had pressed the issue, it would have been over in the second round, and the tons of fans who purchased the fight on PPV would have been hopping mad, feeling they’d been ripped off.
The undercard for the Tank vs. Ryan fight was awful, and it was obvious the fans got zero value for their money for that contest. As such, Gervonta was wise to let Ryan hang around until the seventh round before putting him out of his misery with a body shot. Ryan took a knee and allowed himself to be counted out in a move that made him look weak.
For Ryan to show that he’s improved since his loss, he needs to beat these kind of fighters:
- Devin Haney
- Subriel Matias
- Gary Antuanne Russell
- Richardson Hitchins
- Arnold Barboza Jr
- Regis Prograis
- Teofimo Lopez
- Sandor Martin
Whether Ryan can beat ANY of those fighters is questionable, as they’re all pretty solid guys with talent that would make life difficult for him inside the ring.
Kingry to make example of Oscar Duarte
“I don’t know nothing about him, but there’s a difference. I’m way more experienced and have more tools than him. He doesn’t have a lot of options with me,” said Ryan about his December 2nd opponent, Oscar Duarte.
“So, I’m going to know what’s coming at me, but he’s not going to know what’s coming at him. It’s just simple. Oscar is going to come and try to fight and make it a tough fight, but how tough can you be when you keep getting punched in the face? You can’t be that tough,” said Ryan about his obscure opponent Duarte.
It’s understandable why Ryan Garcia isn’t familiar with the 27-year-old Mexico native Duarte because this guy has been operating under the radar his entire ten-year professional career, with most of his fights coming against unknown cab drivers in Mexico.
The only two semi-notable fighters Duarte has faced during his decade-long career are Alex Martin and Adrian Estrella. He lost to Estrella by a ten round split decision in 2019.
Estrella is a fighter who was knocked out in four rounds by Subriel Matias and one round by Shohjahon Ergashev. So this should give you a good idea of the type of opponent Ryan will be fighting on December 2nd when he gets in with Duarte.
“I expect him to bring a hard fight, but I don’t see him win any rounds,” said Ryan about Duarte. “I don’t see him even doing damage. Anything can happen in boxing, but as sharp as I am right now, I just don’t see it happening.
“In a huge way, mark my words,” said Ryan Garcia when asked if he intends on coming back in a ‘big way’ on December 2nd against Oscar Duarte. “This is going to be what you guys are looking for.
“That loss [to Gervonta Davis] woke something else up, and it’s the worst thing that could happen to all the other opponents that I lost. That’s the worst thing that could happen, and I’m telling you, I’m coming back. They’re going to make a movie out of this, I promise. They’re going to make a movie.
“‘This dude just lost but then come back and just takes over the game.’ I’m telling you, I’m sharp right now, sharp, sharp, sharp, and fast. You’re going to see something special. Be there. I’m telling you, watch this fight. Not because it’s Duarte.
“Duarte is tough, but it’s going to be an example of what’s to come. Mark my words, it’s going to be an example of what’s to come. I’m dead serious. I’ve never been this committed since 2020,” Ryan Garcia said.
Duarte might be tough, but he’s slow, easy to hit, and has never beaten a top-tier opponent during his ten-year pro career. It would have been better if Golden Boy picked out a fringe contender from the 140-lb division, given that Ryan is fighting in that weight class.
These 140-lb fringe contenders would have been better options for Ryan Garcia to fight on December 2nd than the 135-pounder Duarte:
- Sergey Lipinets
- Batyrzhan Jukembayev
- Brandun Lee
- Elvis Rodriguez
- Liam Paro
- Gabriel Gollaz
- Jamaine Ortiz
Ryan focused now
“I didn’t even care about boxing because I went through my s***, and I started going backwards, and I just lost everything, my whole concentration,” said Ryan Garcia. “But something about me losing woke me up. ‘Okay, let me think about what’s going on.’
“I cut a lot of stuff off in my life. I just had to know how to do this. You can’t disrespect the game, but now, I’m back on track, and I’m on fire. On December 2nd, I’m going to make it an example. It ain’t about Duarte. It ain’t about my comeback. It’s not about nothing of that.”
Boxing fans aren’t going to be eager to see a Tank-Garcia rematch unless Ryan redeems himself with solid wins over quality fighters that people have heard of, and who fight at 140, not 135.
Ryan won’t convince fans to want to purchase a rematch between him and Tank if his efforts to rebuild his credibility come against little-known fringe contenders.
“It’s about Ryan Garcia making an example of who I am. You’re going to see. I don’t care about the critics, I don’t care about what you think about my last fight [against Gervonta Davis],” said Ryan. “I don’t care that I got dropped. I don’t care that I got stopped. I don’t care about none of that. You’re going to see who Ryan Garcia is.
“Make any comment you want. I’m coming after it. I got everything on lock right now. I might change my name to ‘Super Ry.’ I like that. ‘Super Ry.’ I like ‘Super Ry’ Garcia. That’s kind of cool. How about ‘Super Garcia’?” said Ryan.
