First things first, credit to Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia for making this super fight happen. With competing promoters and broadcast partners, it needed them to push hard to get it across the line.
They could have sold out the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas twice over. The pair have 15 million Instagram followers between them, which justifies the whopping eight-figure guarantees both have secured.
It is obviously a great fight, two unbeaten fighters in a stacked lightweight/super lightweight space. This will be at a catchweight 136 pounds with a rehydration clause preventing both from topping 145 pounds on the morning of the fight.
Despite being dropped by Luke Campbell in the second round two years ago, a looping left from the southpaw stance, Garcia has a great chin. That shot landed right on the button and he went down like a stone. But he showed what he was made of in getting up to prevail in the seventh.
Campbell tried to finish it but couldn’t. When you have a guy down like that you can’t let them recover. Garcia has a terrific left hook and a great right hand. Tank is an even more brutal punching machine as 26 KOs in 28 wins demonstrates, and like Campbell, a southpaw.
Against Leo Santa Cruz three years ago he was swatting the punches aside like they were irritants and then knocked him cold with a left uppercut. It was a spectacular knockout.
Of the two, Garcia is more hittable. He has to use his feet, keep busy with the jab, stay as low as possible and glue that right hand to the side of his head.
If you stand off Tank he can have a field day. But he hates to be pressurised, so Garcia must fight with aggression. Yet he can’t be reckless. He has to be conscious of what’s coming back. Tank will want to be aggressive. Both will seek to control the pace of the fight. That’s the key to this contest.
I expect Garcia to control the early rounds, but at some point he will get tagged. I don’t see Davis winning on points put it that way. But I do see him winning.
If Garcia is to prevail it will be by decision. If he goes looking for the knockout he is inviting trouble. Garcia is the naturally bigger fighter and a smart kid. I love the way he promotes the sport. He is brilliant for the game but is up against an exceptional, era defining talent in Davis. And whichever way I slice the cake I see only one winner.
- Follow Barry on Twitter at @ClonesCyclone @McGuigans_Gym
