Ryan Garcia feels that he could have beaten Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis last Saturday night if he’d kept it boring, fighting on the outside, jabbing, and backing up to avoid getting hit.
Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) said his inexperience caused him to start pressing Tank (29-0, 27 KOs) after he felt he hurt him in round two. Tank took advantage of Ryan fighting aggressively by clipping him, sending him to the canvas.
Ryan could have played it safe for the remainder of the fight by staying at range and not allowing the 5’5″ Tank Davis to get near enough to unload his power shots, but he didn’t do that.
In the sixth, Ryan began going on the attack once again, and a round later, he was dropped by a body shot from Tank Davis. The rest is history. Ryan stayed down and was counted out.
In hindsight, the 24-year-old Ryan should have waited until he had more experience before fighting a seasoned pro like Gervonta.
It was too early in Ryan’s career for him to fight Tank Davis because he’d only had one fight against a quality opponent in Luke Campbell, and that match can two years ago.
Another problem that Ryan has is he’s always been an impatient fighter that had a reputation for being a gunner. When you’re that type of fighter in your DNA, you’re not going to all of a sudden become a disciplined boxer overnight.
To beat Gervonta, Ryan would have needed to be disciplined the entire fight, and that wasn’t possible because it doesn’t fit how he’s always fought.
Ryan Garcia reveals why he lost to Gervonta
“I think my problem was I got a little too impatient,” said Ryan Garcia at the post-fight press conference. “You’ve just got to be careful with Gervonta and play it smart. I didn’t play it smart.
“I started getting bored in there, and I started to press, and I ended up getting knocked out. That was my mistake. I just wanted to make this fight a little more exciting. That’s my inexperience I should have just made it boring, made him miss, and kept it on the outside.
“I decided, ‘Let’s start throwing them,’ and that didn’t work in my favor. I could have kept playing the same game. Jab, back up. Jab, back up. Wait for him to throw, and back up,” said Ryan.
