Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis 28-0 (26) has scoffed at comments made by Ryan Garcia 23-0 (19) that he would stop him inside two rounds.
Davis, a 28-year-old southpaw from Baltimore, successfully defended his WBA ‘regular’ lightweight title with a ninth-round stoppage of WBA super featherweight champion Hector Luis Garcia 16-1 (10) at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC on Saturday night.
The bout was considered a warm-up for the mooted Davis-Garcia bout that is pencilled in for April 15.
Los Angelan Garcia, 24, was expected to face Filipino southpaw Mercito Gesta 33-3-3 (17) in an interim bout this month but opted out of the fight in December to focus on preparing for Davis, who he says he will defeat in short order.
“Prediction for the fight – I say I’ll beat him in about two rounds,” Garcia told The Joe Pomp Show earlier this month.
“Part of me knows that I am just better than him. What I’ve seen from him. What I know about myself. What I know they are underestimating, just by the way he speaks and just how he fights.
“But my main thing is that I don’t think he’s really ever understood adversity in a professional ring in his career. I think he’s always had an understanding that nothing can go wrong because of the talent he’s facing. I don’t think he’s felt any risk in the ring.
“When I’m in there, obviously he knows it’s a different level of speed and power, and that I am not oblivious to the different shots he’s trying to land, which are sometimes obvious that he throws. I think that he’ll start facing the pressure that this is a lot harder than he may have thought. And I won’t let off the gas when I feel that.
“But this is boxing. You have to make adjustments on the fly. This is only what I see from the outside. On the inside, it’s all going to play out.”
Davis said he understood Garcia’s mentality as a boxer.
“Ryan has high hopes. He’s a fighter. Fighters have to speak highly and think highly of themselves. He’s talking and he’s actually putting in the work,” Davis said on The Last Stand Podcast with Brian Custer.
“He’s not taking any fights and he’s focusing on me. We can’t overlook his statement. You know what I mean? We just have to be mindful that he’s coming. I definitely have to be prepared. I’ll make sure to prepare myself just as much or much harder than him.”
As for the two round prediction, Davis is having none of it.
“That’s a strong prediction. I feel as though two rounds – that’s crazy,” said Davis. “Rollie [Rolando Romero] said the same thing. I don’t know what they’re thinking. [Garcia has] seen it personally sitting up close. He made a bet with Errol Spence and he lost that bet. Tell him to bet again, for sure.”
