Ryan Garcia is being mentioned as an excellent option for Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis’ next fight later this year in December, provided King Ry wins his July 16th contest against Javier Fortuna.
The way Ryan performed against Emmanuel Tagoe and Luke Campbell in his last two fights, he’s nowhere near ready to fight Gervonta Davis.
With that said, if the focus is merely on making money without a thought about whether Ryan is ready or not, the fight with Tank can be made.
#2 WBC Ryan wants the fight against Tank in December, and he’s already looking past his fight with Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs) and hopes the battle will be added to the boxing schedule soon.
That’s a bad idea for Ryan to be doing because he’s already pulled out of a fight against Fortuna once. You’d have to see Ryan pull out a second time.
It’s easy to imagine the flighty Golden Boy star backing out of the Fortuna fight due to him being impatient and wanting to fight Tank straightaway.
Tank vs. Ryan Garcia would make a massive amount of money on Showtime PPV, and it would create a tremendous amount of interest.
Is Ryan Garcia a viable option for Tank Davis?
“I’ve had to deal with a lot of just disrespect toward me as a fighter,” said Ryan Garcia to Sports Illustrated. “I paid those dues. I just did it in a smart marketing way. That’s just what it is.
‘I’m smart. And honestly, now that I look at it, I think it’s just because I’m handsome. Honestly, I think they’re envious.
“And I think they just hate me. It’s kind of cocky to say but f*** it. It’s true. I’m handsome and they hate it,” said Ryan.
The reason why boxing fan dislike Ryan Garcia is they see a guy that has been pampered by his promoters at Golden Boy, matched against stiffs one in clear mismatches, and then pulling out of fights when matched against decent opposition.
Ryan’s bad habit of calling out fighters like Tank Davis despite having done zero to earn the fight comes across as a fighter just looking for a big payday. It’s easy to predict what will happen in that fight.
Ryan will be competitive for a few rounds only because Tank is taking it easy on him, but once he gets serious, he’ll knock him out.
From there, Ryan will beat a few stiffs, and then start calling out Tank again for a second fight. In other words, rinse & repeat.
Fans get too terrible fights and have a poor product the $80 they’ll spend purchasing the Tank vs. Ryan fights.
Ideally, what should happen is Ryan Garcia earning the fight against Tank Davis by beating actual top contenders, not washed guys like Fortuna and Tagoe.
If Ryan could beat these guys, you could argue that he’s ready for a fight against Tank Davis: Rolly Romero, Jeremiah Nakathilia, Michel Rivera, and Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr.
I doubt that Ryan beat any of those guys at this point, even Jojo, who looked poor in his recent loss to Devin Haney.
“I think Rolly gives a lot of these 135 guys trouble because he’s a bigger guy and strong dude,” said Carson Merk to the Porter Way Podcast. “I thought one thing going into it [Gervonta Davis fight], and he exceeded my expectations.
“What do you think is next for Tank, one of the biggest stars in boxing?”
“It’s got to be one of the biggest names in boxing,” said Shawn Porter on who Tank Davis should fight next. “I heard [Ryan] Garcia was prepared to get in the ring last night.”
“Ryan said, ‘I’ll make the fight. F*** them, let me do it'” said Merk in talking about what Ryan said last Saturday night during the Tank vs. Rolly fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. “That fight is massive business-wise, fan-wise.”
Tank vs. Ryan = a massive fight
“I’m not sure I disagree with that [about Ryan being a fight away from being ready for Tank Davis],” said Merk. “I think from a business perspective and an interest perspective, it’s huge because those are two are the most popular boxers.
“Look at the people Ryan Garcia has his fan base from social media and all of that. You have two of the biggest names in boxing popularity-wise and both sell very well.
“Another name that’s been floated about [for Tank Davis] is Lomachenko. If somehow they can make that happen, it would be a fun fight,” said Merk.
“That’s a classic fight,” said Shawn Porter about Tank vs. Lomachenko. “I think that would be the classic #1 vs. #1 in the 135-lb division. All respect to Devin Haney.”
“He [Tank Davis] seems like he’s maturing. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse and misjudge him or anything like that, but based on my small experiences with him, he seems to have really matured,” said Porter about Gervonta.
“Abner [Mares] said that yesterday too,” said Merk about Tank having matured as a person. “Abner said during the broadcast, ‘I was calling for him a few years ago,’ and they were going to fight before the eye injury.
“He was like, ‘I saw an immature fighter, somebody that I could expose that.’ Since then, he’s grown so much inside and outside the ring,” said Merk.
“I’ve been saying he’s the best 135-pounder for a long time,” Porter said of Gervonta.”The separation between him and everyone else in the division is so minimal, that it amounts to moments like we saw last night.
“You capitalize consistently on moments to win a decision or a knockout. Tank has always had an x-factor in that left hand, and he also has a lot of power in his right hand as well. He’s strong, he’s a tank and the list goes on.
“I just think that the Lomachenko vs. Tank fight is the best one that can be made at 135 from a perspective of experience from a perspective of two phenomenal professional boxers, southpaws. The list goes on and on. I think that’s the best stylistically,” said Porter about a fight between Tank Davis and Vasyl Lomachenko.
“It would be a chess match of two top guys,” said Merk.
