Protracted negotiations have paid dividends with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis 28-0 (26) and Ryan Garcia 23-0 (19) finally signing up for a 136-pound catchweight bout to take place on April 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada at a venue to be determined.
Talks between the two camps opened up in the middle of last year and dragged on for months before it was prematurely announced in November that the rivals would be facing each other in early 2023.
The plan was for both boxers to take warm-up bouts in January. Davis, 28, of Baltimore was scheduled to take on Hector Luis Garcia, while the 24-year-old Garcia of Los Angeles was slated to take on Mercito Gesta.
Davis went through with his bout, stopping Garcia in nine rounds at the Capital One Arena in Washington, Maryland on January 7. ‘KingRy’ decided to forgo his tune-up, withdrawing from his proposed bout against Gesta shortly before Christmas.
The sticking point in negotiations came down to broadcast rights with Davis’ fights shown on Showtime and Garcia’s on DAZN. The bout will be a joint pay-per-view between the broadcasters.
The entire negotiation period took over half a year. Better late than never.
“After eight months, I made this happen. Ryan Garcia-Tank Davis, a done deal,” Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions posted to Twitter. “This is what you wanted, this is what you’re going to get.”
Davis and Garcia both posted simply messages to their social media accounts to announce the fight.
“April 22, 2023 Las Vegas It’s on! #DavisGarcia GOOOOO,” Davis wrote.
Garcia said: “APRIL 22nd SHOWTIME PPV and DAZN PPV LAS VEGAS NV.”De La Hoya believes the importance of this fight cannot be underestimated.
“It’s big, it’s huge. I think every day that passes by, it keeps getting bigger and bigger,” De La Hoya said to Little Giant Boxing.
“I can imagine how huge it’s going to be during fight week. The energy, the electricity in the air in Las Vegas. It’s going to be quite a sight, particularly with all the celebrities that are involved that are going to want to go to the fight.
“This is the Super Bowl of boxing.”
Perhaps De La Hoya is onto something. Even WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman – whose organisation doesn’t rate Davis as he holds a secondary title with a rival sanctioning body at lightweight and only has Garcia at number eight at junior welterweight – is excited about the prospect of the fight.
“It’s time for fight fans to get the fights they want to see to be confirmed and promoted,” said Sulaiman. “So many great ones have been delayed for various reasons.
“It is incorrect to say that there are culprits since many factors are involved in big promotions. But it is high time to demand that everyone involved agree and make them happen.
“It also complicates the administration of world championships, creating a highly complex scenario for fights. [This happens] When one boxer is with one company and the other fighter has signed for another.
“This is the time to turn it around. To bury the hatchets and make the fights.”
Here’s hoping the Boxing Gods don’t conspire against us to find a way to prevent the bout from happening.
