Ryan Garcia’s dad Henry says that fans need to “ignore” the purse bet with Gervonta Davis and instead “concentrate” on the fight this Saturday.
Henry Garcia points out that judges and referees make odd decisions in fights, which makes it too risky to have purse bets because it’s too unpredictable.
In other words, if Gervonta (28-0, 26 KOs) and Ryan (23-0, 19 KOs) want to hype their match-up on Saturday, they need to talk about other things and leave the betting to the fans for their fight on Saturday, April 22 on DAZN & Showtime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Earlier this week, Gervonta asked Ryan to make a purse bet during their Instagram live conversation. That was Tank’s entire focus during the conversation, which was a wasted opportunity for him because there was so much he could have said.
“I didn’t watch the interview. Actually, I didn’t even know about it. I got on Youtube and started seeing it,” said Henry Garcia to Fight Hub TV about Ryan Garcia making a verbal purse bet with Gervonta Davis on the outcome of their fight on Saturday night.
“But look it, remember Jake Paul betting against Eddie Hearn and Willie and all those guys. That didn’t really happen. I would say ignore that and let’s just concentrate on fight. Let’s just wait for that moment.
“I actually didn’t want to say anything to him because he’s a grown man. I wouldn’t want that to happen, but I’ll tell you this much. For him to say it out loud, that tells you he’s very confident,” Henry continued about Ryan.
“Judges and referees, some of them you do see some weird things happening as far as scoring and the way referees stop the fight. These are some things that you do have to take into account, and I think my son is aware of that.
“I’d have to say no because Ryan is tuned in,” said Henry when asked if he sees Saturday’s fight going the full twelve rounds. “I’ve never seen him like this before. He’s the underdog because his team is saying Tank has more experience. Ellerbe is saying that and other people.
“Do you know how many amateur fights Tank had? I honestly have to disagree because I honestly don’t think anyone that he has fought was better than Luke Campbell. People might say, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ but I’m serious.
“Luke Campbell was a tough fighter, and I’ll keep saying that. He was no joke. He wasn’t easy. He was a gold medalist [in the 2012 Olympics]. Tank fought some guys that were champions, but they weren’t gold medalists.
“Gold medalists mean you fought everybody in the entire world. Ryan fought 15 Nationals, and he fought guys from all over the world, too. So as far as experience, the only thing I can give him [Gervonta] is life experience because he’s older, but don’t say he’s more experienced. No way. There’s no way.
“You call him fighting Pedraza, Fonseca, and Gamboa, who was injured as fight experience? Come on, man. They’re either on their way out or coming up in weight. To me, that doesn’t count. This fight counts.
“Come April 22nd, you’re going to see a true lightweight for him to fight a true lightweight and I think he’s scared,” said Henry.
