Former lightweight Ryan Garcia 23-1 (19) will move back up in weight after his seventh-round knockout loss to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis 29-0 (27) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 22.
The 24-year-old Los Angelan was stopped with a body shot in their 136-pound catchweight bout that he was trailing at the time by scores of 56-58, 56-59 and 55-59.
Garcia’s father confirmed the planned move back up in weight, where his son had boxed just one fight before dropping back down for the mega-fight.
“We’re going to come back at 140,” Henry Garcia told Little Giant Boxing. “We’re not going to have conditions this time. Just the way it should be. You know what I have to thank the Davis team—congrats to the Davis team—I’m humble.
“It is what it is, but we’re going to come back.
“The only way Ryan would do something like [rematch Davis] is if Ryan moved up to 140 and rehydrated to, you know, a normal weight.
“That’s the only way. But right now, we did what we could. He gave the whole world a great fight. They loved it. But we’re gonna move on and we’re just gonna prevail.”
There was a 10-pound rehydration clause built into the contract for Davis-Garcia.
“Had he not taken those stipulations, this fight wouldn’t have occurred,” Henry Garcia said to FightHubTV. “He did tell me personally on a side note, ‘Dad, I did feel it as soon as I got in the ring. My legs were a little gone, but I wanted this fight,’ because he’s always dreamed about it, and it happened.”
On Saturday broadcaster Showtime released a wrap-up of the fight called “ALL ACCESS: DAVIS VS. GARCIA EPILOGUE”.
In the footage, Garcia’s trainer Joe Goossen can be seen conversing with his boxer over the injury.
“Did it hit that rib part at all, Ryan?” Goossen asked.
Garcia responded in the affirmative.
“I knew it,” Goossen responded.
“I didn’t wanna continue because of my rib. But it’s okay. I don’t wanna make excuses,” Garcia replied.
“No, no, no. Let me tell you something, that type of shot is a hard [one to overcome]. You’d rather get hit on the chin,” Goossen said.
“Yeah,” Garcia said. “I would rather have got hit on the chin.”
In an interesting social media exchange, Garcia hinted that his sparring partner, two-time Olympian Erdenebat Tsendbaatar 5-0 (3), was a mole in his camp helping out his opposition.
In a video message Tsendbaatar said to Garcia: “Hey King Ryan, in sparring I injured you with a body shot. Now you lost to Tank. I am sorry. Are you okay?”
Garcia replied: “Actually sad that I had a mole in my camp. Like WTF. That’s crazy but that’s good it’s brought to light now.”
Tsendbaatar responded: “Who is Mole? What are you talking about? I am not mole. I don’t even speak English. I don’t even like Tank. I will fight him and KO him in the future.
“During our sparring, I tried to help you and sparred Tank-style boxing. I was cheering for you to win against Tank. You are great boxer, but next time try to learn from sparring and hopefully you will not get hit by the same punch during the fight. Good luck to you and God bless!!”
Garcia added: “People taking it the wrong way. I’m not saying that’s why I took the loss, I’m saying that it’s crazy that part of my team switched sides and crossed me. I would never make that an excuse, for sure. He beat me and that’s that.”
