By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Calvin Ford is interested in matching his fighter Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis against undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez now that Ryan Garcia has suddenly had a change of heart about taking the fight against Tank.
Teofimo’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank hasn’t mentioned wanting to put a fight together between him and Tank Davis. The only fights that Arum is talking about at 135 for Teofimo are his IBF mandatory George Kambosos Jr and Ryan Garcia.
Teoffimo-Kambosos Jr fight has a great chance of happening, but not the Ryan one for Teofimo. Teofimo vs. Kambosos an Australian money fight, and none that U.S fans will be interested in.
Ford says there are only two fighters worth matching against Tank (24-0, 23 KOs) in the 135-lb division, and that’s IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO champion Teofimo (16-0, 12 KOs) and Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs).
Vasily Lomachenko needs to fight someone else and beat them to be worthy of facing Tank, says Ford. He doesn’t feel that it’s a good fight if Tank faces Lomachenko right away given that he’s coming off a loss.
Also, Ford says there’s no money in a match between WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney and Tank due to Devin not having a large enough fan base.
Ford wants Tank Davis vs. Teofimo
“Each promotional company has their own money getter, and Golden Boy doesn’t mind taking chances because they invest a lot into him and they just lost Canelo,” said Tank Davis’ trainer Calvin Ford to ESNEWS about Ryan Garcia.
“Good fights, they should make them and get them out of the way. I’d rather go after the guy that has the belts right now,” Ford said about wanting to match Tank Davis against Teoimo Lopez.
“I’ll fight him, and the reason why is because it’s a big fight. That’s a good fight [Tank Davis vs. Vasily Lomachenko], but I’d make Loma go fight somebody else to fight Tank.
“Devin’s numbers aren’t big enough [to fight Tank]. The only person I would fight is what’s his name [Teofimo] because Tank got the money and he’s [Teofimo] got the belts].
“Those two [Ryan Garcia and Teofimo] are the only two fighters out there that really make sense,” Ford said.
“I’d go with money [Tank] against the belts [Teofimo], then you’re definitely undisputed. You put them together; that’s a big fight,” said Ford.
Arum likely won’t make the fight between Tank and Teofimo Lopez, even though it would make money. You can say politics might be one reason, but it’s more likely that Tank is a bad style match-up for Teofimo.
Golden Boy willing to let Ryan Garcia face Pacquiao
“I didn’t know Ryan was affiliated with Eddie Hearn. Eddie Hearn gave a speech that he [Ryan] won’t be fighting Tank, and I get it.
“If you really watch that fight [Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell] of him just recently fighting, and he got dropped by him [Campbell].
“And him fighting Tank, they don’t want him in a situation where he’s making a comeback like Canelo and Floyd. Canelo lost to Floyd, one of the great ones.
“Golden Boy is willing to take that chance [of letting Ryan Garcia face Pacquiao and lose]. He’s [Ryan] young, he’s got a big fan base, so they’re looking at it on the dollar sign.
“Somebody must have tapped and said if they do that boy [Ryan] like that, something bad could happen to him, and he might not recover from it,” Ford said about the risk involved in Ryan Garcia if he’d fought Tank Davis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfASZo-C6rE
“I don’t know where the Pacquiao came from. Pacquiao came back and said he’s going to fight somebody else. It’s [Pacquiao vs. King Ryan] isn’t a real fight,” said Ford.
“I’m not arguing that,” Ford when told that you can’t blame Ryan Garcia for picking Pacquiao over Tank.
“If Pacquiao would have said he wanted to fight Tank, Tank probably would have took that fight. I’m not mad at Ryan.
“That’s the smartest thing to do. But I’m hearing Pacquiao is supposed to be fighting Terence Crawford,” said Ford.
It makes sense what Ford says about Golden Boy not wanting Ryan to fight Tank because of the damage he can do.