Promoter Oscar De La Hoya says Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis will need a catcher’s mask and a bodysuit to protect him from the powerful shots Ryan Garcia will be hitting him with on April 22nd in their 136-lb catchweight fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While many boxing fans, fighters, and members of the media believe Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) will be getting knocked out by Tank Davis (28-0, 26 KOs), Golden Boy Promotions boss De La Hoya sees it the other way around for their 12 round match on Showtime PPV.
It’s Tank that is heading toward trouble against Ryan, and without some kind of protection, he’s going to get knocked out. If Ryan gets to Tank’s chin, he’ll probably need to do it early because the longer the fight, the more chances the Baltimore native will have to score a knockout.
The last fighter that went the distance with Tank Davis was Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz in 2021, but he took a lot of punishment in that contest, getting hit with punches that would have knocked out a lot of fighters, including Ryan.
Tank will need a catcher’s mask
“Ryan might need a bat for Gervonta, but Gervonta is going to need a catcher’s mask and a bodysuit because Ryan is going to come after him hard. It’s going to be a dogfight,” said Oscar De Hoya to Fighthype, predicting a war between Ryan Garcia and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis on April 22.
“Everybody is excited. You saw the way it sold out, but then you have the secondary market,” De La Hoya continued. “I’ve never heard of 50,000 dollars for a ringside seat. That’s more than Canelo’s fights, that’s more than my fights, and more than Mayweather’s fights. It’s big, man.
Ryan Garcia given ‘Take it or leave it offer’
“It was ‘take it or leave it,” said De La Hoya when asked if Ryan Garcia could have still gotten the Tank Davis fight if he said no to the 10-lb rehydration clause with a 146-lb limit for the secondary weight check on the morning of the fight.
“Ryan wanted this fight so bad, so we had to make concessions. We finally got it done. We weren’t going to go back and forth. It was going to be, ‘Let’s get this done and make concessions.’ That’s about it,” said De La Hoya on the Tank Davis vs. Ryan Garcia negotiations.
