Conor McGregor advised Ryan Garcia to rematch Gervonta Davis without any rehydration clause after his KO loss.
UFC superstar McGregor was in attendance as boxing stars Davis and Garcia put their undefeated streaks on the line in a mega-fight in Las Vegas at the weekend. But it was 'Tank' who prevailed in front of the Irishman at ringside, producing a demolition job to drop and stop his opponent in the seventh round and settle their rivalry.
Much had been made of Garcia's potential condition in the build-up, given he was forced to weigh in at 136lb on fight week before only being allowed to rehydrate to 145lb on the day of the showdown. And in a rallying call to Garcia in the dressing room after the fight had concluded, he insisted that he pursues immediate revenge without the contracted clause.
He said in a rallying speech caught on camera: "He's 1-0 on you, you two are the biggest names in the division. I want to see it again. I want to see it again now, and I want to see it with no rehydration clause, seriously. You know what I mean? Mate, all the respect in the world to you, you're the future. The future is there, I'll be watching you all the way. All the best, God bless."
McGregor later added in an interview with Inside Fighting: "Sure, why not [rematch]? They’ve already made the match, so it’d be easy to get done again. There’s a storyline to it. “In boxing, the matches are so hard to make. You think of all the other contenders they could face. Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson, Vasily Lomachenko, they’re all difficult fights to make.
"I don’t know [if Garcia could win a rematch], it’s a tough ask. But that extra bit of weight, when you don’t [have to] dehydrate, or you’re allowed to rehydrate, it makes a difference. It wasn’t the [body] shot that ended him. It was a shot that over time if he was allowed to rehydrate, that may have been different, you know?”
Garcia was ultimately dropped by a thumping body shot which ended his night early and saw Davis earn a statement win. It had been suggested before the night that 'Tank' had known of a pre-existing injury that 'King Ry' had suffered while sparring in preparation for the fight.
However the conquered star admitted that he was unable to climb from the canvas after being left severely damaged by the booming blow. "He just caught me with a good shot," the 24-year-old said after the loss.
"I don’t want to make any excuses in here. He caught me with a good shot and I just couldn’t recover and that’s it. He caught me with a good body shot, snuck under me and caught me good. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to get back up, but I just couldn’t get up."
