The superfight between Gervonta 'Tank' Davis and Ryan Garcia has finally been announced as the bitter rivals will meet on April 22 in Las Vegas.
Davis and Garcia will meet at a catchweight of 136lb on Showtime pay-per-view, but a venue for the fight in Sin City is yet-to-be-announced. The MGM Grand Garden Arena and T-Mobile Arena are the most likely venues, but the 70,000 seat Allegiant Stadium has also been discussed. 'Tank' confirmed the fight on Friday when he tweeted: "April 22, 2023 Las Vegas, it’s on!"
A fight between the lightweight standouts has been proposed for years and tensions have been ramping up between them in recent months. Garcia labelled his rival "h**" on Twitter last month and said "he can’t hold a conversation for longer than five minutes". Davis is unbeaten in 23 professional fights and has held the WBA lightweight title since 2019, whilst Garcia has an unbeaten record of 23 fights.
Davis was in action last month as he defended his world title by knocking out Hector Garcia, and the 28-year-old recently criticised Ryan Garcia for not taking another fight before their April clash. “I think Ryan Garcia’s being lazy not taking a fight before our fight. When he was coming up, he was in the gym and everything and now he’s got some money and a little bit of fame and he’s partying and stuff like that. It happens to the majority of us, it’s up to him to tighten up before it’s too late," he said.
Garcia alleged that he and Davis nearly came to blows during an incident in a nightclub last year. “I actually did see Tank in the club. He's a tough guy," Garcia said. "He was very low-key in his hoodie. I went up to his table and said, ‘Yo, are we gonna make this fight happen?’ I guess he got all offended by that. Got all worked up and I was like, ‘Yo, what you on about, man? Ain’t no respect here?
Who wins the fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia? Let us know in the comments section below.
"He responds with, ‘Nah, there ain’t no respect here.’ So I said, ‘Oh, it’s like that. Okay, it’s like that.’ Then he grabbed my chain, but I wasn’t worried about [it]. There were so many security guards there. I knew he wasn’t going to take my chain or do anything, really. He just wanted to seem tough. So I said ‘It’s like that, huh?’"
Garcia hasn't fought since knocking out Javier Fortuna last July, winning one of the few decisions of his career against Emmanuel Tagoe three months before that fight. The biggest win of Garcia's career came in January 2021 when he knocked out former Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell.
