Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis will take on his toughest opponent against the 2016 Olympian Hector Luis Garcia on January 7th on Showtime pay-per-view at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
It’s a great fight, but it might not bring in many PPV buys on Showtime because Hector isn’t a household name in the U.S.
It’s a bit of a surprise that PBC has chosen Hector Garcia as Tank Davis’ opponent. 34-year-old featherweight Gary Russell Jr. had been the guy that was rumored to be Tank’s opponent, and that would be in keeping with the type of opposition that he’s been matched against during his career.
If the idea is to bring in a ton of buys on Showtime, it would have been better off matching Tank against Shakur Stevenson, Vasyl Lomachenko, or Devin Haney.
The 31-year-old Hector Garcia recently defeated WBA super featherweight champion Roger Gutierrez by a 12 round unanimous decision last August and Chris Colbert by a 12 round decision last February. Both fights were one-sided affairs, with Hector dominating Colbert and Gutierrez.
It’s a huge gamble on Mayweather Promotions and PBC’s part to have Tank Davis defend against Garcia because it’s a fight that the Baltimore native could lose. If that happens, they will look silly matching him against Ryan Garcia in April.
If Tank Davis loses this fight, Mayweather Promotions & PBC will need to reschedule the Ryan Garcia fight until he faces Hector in a rematch. Of course, that’s if they dare make a rematch with Hector because it might a mistake for them to put Tank in there with him again.
Hector (16-0, 10 KOs) is arguably more talented and much of a threat to beating WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Tank Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) than his scheduled mega-fight against Ryan Garcia on April 15th.
In contrast, Ryan is a social media boxer with millions of followers who haven’t beaten anyone of note other than a couple of old guys in Luke Campbell and Javier Fortuna.
Hector isn’t as popular as Ryan, but he’s arguably a better fighter and is more of a threat to Gervonta. If Hector were better known in the U.S, he would be the one that would be facing Tank in a mega-fight in April than Ryan.
Hector Garcia’s best wins:
- Roger Gutierrez
- Chris Colbert
- Isaac Avelar
Tickets will go on sale for the Tank Davis vs. Hector Garcia fight next week on Wednesday, November 23rd.
