Promoter Lou DiBella says Ryan Garcia is still a star despite his seventh round body shot knockout loss to Gervonta Davis last Saturday night in Las Vegas.
DiBella points out that anyone can get hurt to the body, especially if they’ve already been injured in training. Lou’s fighter, two-time Olympian Erdenebatyn Tsendbaatar, injured Ryan Garcia in camp for his fight with Gervonta.
Ryan didn’t say whether his midsection was still sore from his sparring with Tsendbaatarr for his fight with Tank Davis. If so, that would explain why he was dropped by Tank in the seventh round.
If Ryan Garcia leaves Golden Boy Promotions at some point, DiBella might be a destination for him if he doesn’t ink with Matchroom, Top Rank or one of the other promoters.
“Anybody can get hurt in sparring, and real fighters fight. And by the way, real champions, they get hurt in sparring, and they go through with the fight,” said promoter Lou DiBella to Fighthype about Ryan Garcia getting hurt by his fighter Erdenebatyn Tsendbaatar in training for the Gervonta Davis fight last weekend.
“Props to Ryan Garcia. He got hurt and went through with that fight, and then Tank landed that monstrous body shot right to the liver. If you were at all tender in that area, you were going to have a problem. But even if you weren’t, that was the perfect liver shot.
“Ryan is still a star, and both of those guys are stars, and I’m really happy that fight performed well.
“Good, I wish I could promote him,” DiBella said about Ryan Garcia. “Everyone wants to criticize Ryan. I wish I could promote him. He’s still one of the biggest stars in the business.
“He’s still a work in progress. I’m glad he went some rounds, and I’m glad he didn’t get a quick knockout. He’s never been a knockout victim, and we wanted him to go rounds,” said DiBella about his fighter two-time Olympian Erdenebatyn Tsendbaatar on his eight round unanimous decision win over journeyman Edy Valencia Mercado on Thursday night on the Broadway Boxing Show at Sony Hall in New York.
“He’s a two-time Olympian. The kid is a stud and a genuine top, top prospect. I’m going to develop him properly. Not as quickly as he wants to be developed, and by the way,” said DiBella about Tsendbaatar.
