Bill Haney says the Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia contest is basically an “exhibition” because Tank is “writing the rules” of the fight with the two weight stipulations that were part of the contract that Kingry had to agree to.
In Bill’s mind, the 136-lb catchweight + the 10-lb rehydration clause that Tank placed in the contract to gain an advantage over Ryan to essentially weaken him makes the fight like an exhibition.
The Davis-Garcia match has obviously been sanctioned as being a true fight, but it’s in all but name an exhibition. It’s troubling that Ryan Garcia felt he had no choice but to agree to weight stipulations in order to get the fight with Tank.
It makes you wonder if this is just the beginning for Tank to game the system to gain advantages for his future fights by putting more weight restrictions on his opponents to help him win.
The downside to where there’s a popular fighter is that they can use their A-side pull to gain advantages over their opponents to help them win and stay on top longer than they otherwise might be able to do if they could gain an edge.
“There’s no rehydration clause for this fight. I know we’re still under the same rules that when we went to Australia, which is you make the weight at 135, and you fight,” said Bill Haney to Fight Hub TV when asked if there’s a rehydration clause for Devin’s title defense against Vasily Lomachenko on May 20th.
“That’s what I call a big fight, but it’s an exhibition to me because I believe Tank is writing the rules of the fight, so it’s an exhibition,” Bill said about the 136-lb catchweight fight between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Ryan Garcia on April 22nd.
“Our fight is sanctioned by four different organizations, and there are rules that we followed, whether it was Mike Tyson that had the belt, Mayweather, Sugar Ray Leonard. All these guys.
“So it’s important for us to give Lomachenko and anybody else the same opportunity that any of the greats have had, and not just write in some s**t.
“That doesn’t mean that’s not a good fight,” Bill said about the Ryan Garcia vs. Tank Davis fight. “I just said it’s a good fight but the most important fight is Haney vs. Lomachenko.
