The clash of unbeaten stars, possible future megastars, that is Ryan Garcia vs. Tank Davis is big, we all know that. But how big? Set for Las Vegas on April 22, to go out on Showtime pay-per-view, the 136 pound catch-weight showdown has got people in the industry wondering aloud if the fight might break PPV records.
As of today, the shattering numbers the so-called “Fight of the Century,” between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao pulled in – a staggering 4.6 million buys in total – do not look like being beaten any time soon. But the Tank-Garcia fight could break some other PPV records.
Oscar De La Hoya, as excited by the April 22 fight as anyone if not more so, spoke before the LA press conference, and he told Fight Hub TV that he will be “highly disappointed” if the Garcia-Tank fight doesn’t break the 2.4 million then PPV record that was set by his 2007 fight with Floyd Mayweather.
“This is the biggest fight that you could make in recent years, and I strongly feel, this might be of the magnitude of De La Hoya-Trinidad, or De La Hoya-Mosley – undefeated, undefeated,” an animated De La Hoya said. “There’s so much emotion running into it, in people’s veins, the fans, across the globe. If this fight doesn’t do more than my fight with Mayweather, at 2.4 million homes, I’ll be highly disappointed. That’s how big it’s gonna be.”
2.4 million is a heck of a big number, clearly, but maybe this fight, between two hot young fighters, one of whom has an enormous following on social media, will either break it or come close to it. It will be interesting to see how much of a hefty price tag this fight has attached to it as far as the PPV fee goes. But fans are hugely excited by this fight and nobody will want to miss out. As De La Hoya also said, “we haven’t seen a fight like this in years.”
As far as this one being a fight between two special fighters, each with so much to both lose and gain in this fight, one both guys could easily have swerved, it’s co-promoter is bang on correct with his statement. Still, 2.4 million? Let’s wait and see.
