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Ryan Garcia knew the blowback was coming.
From his fans, who were eager to see him return to the ring, even in a stay-busy fight against Mercito Gesta.
From Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Garcia’s next opponent, who used Garcia’s decision to pass on a tune-up as an opportunity to (baselessly) suggest Garcia was using performance enhancers.
From his own promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, who called Garcia’s decision to forego a fight with Gesta “a big mistake.”
Garcia knew. And he didn’t care. He just wants Davis.
“I'm done f------ around,” says Garcia. “I'm ready to go right after 'Tank.'”
There was no revelatory moment, says Garcia. “Just what I want to do,” he says. He isn’t worried about being sharp, having fought twice in 2022. He isn’t concerned about being ready for a southpaw, with two of his last three opponents (Luke Campbell, Javier Fortuna) being lefthanded. He won’t miss the seven-figure payday, either. “It’s not about the money for me,” says Garcia. “I’m just not interested in easy fights.”
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Make no mistake—Gesta would have been an easy fight. He would have been propped up as a two-time title challenger, as a crafty southpaw, as a reinvigorated contender coming off a career-best win. But he wasn’t. Gesta was 35, and his role in the ring would have been to stand up right up until Garcia put him down.
“I could have been fighting anybody and making a decent amount of money and win and keep all the hype going,” says Garcia. “But for me, it's really truly about greatness. I've worked so hard to get to this point. Fought for everything my whole life. I've promoted myself really well, and I've done everything I could to get to this point where I make a mega-fight happen.”
Garcia admits, there were times in recent months he didn’t think the Davis fight would happen. Davis-Garcia is one of the biggest fights in boxing. It might be its most marketable. Davis has sold out venues in New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles. Garcia, backstopped by more than nine million Instagram followers, can draw seven-figure gates. Both are huge punchers. Promoted right, Davis-Garcia has the potential to pull in nearly half a million pay-per-view buys—or more.
That often doesn’t matter in boxing, of course. Davis-Garcia faced several obstacles. They were represented by different promoters. They were featured on different networks. If negotiations failed, both had other options. At one point, Garcia approached De La Hoya and asked him to work on making a fight with Teofimo Lopez.
They didn’t, in part because Garcia refused to let them. He campaigned publicly for the fight. Privately, he pushed his manager and promoter to find a way to make a deal. When it came to money, says Garcia, he wasn’t greedy. When it came down to A-side/B-side issues, Garcia says he quickly agreed to whatever was on the table.
“Where there's a will there's a way,” says Garcia. “I guess my will was that strong. Sometimes you have to just say yes, that's really what it is. Say yes to anything, and that's what I did. I said yes to everything and I made sure that I wouldn't give them an excuse to not make the fight happen.”
Garcia’s resume is decent. He retired Campbell. Might have finished Fortuna, a former 130-pound titleholder, too. But he knows Davis is on an entirely different level. He has power with both hands and more skills than many give him credit for. He will also be fighting at a weight (a contractually agreed 136-pound catchweight) Davis is more comfortable at. Garcia says he is a full-fledged 140-pound fighter now. Davis is the only opponent he was willing to drop back down for.
“I’m going to be disciplined,” says Garcia. “I expect to be on fire when we get in the ring.”
Because he wants it. Badly. The Davis fight, says Garcia, “means everything.” It’s why he wasn’t interested in training for another opponent. “This is what legends are made of,” says Garcia. The buzz going into the fight will be enormous. “Everyone is going to be talking about it,” says Garcia. Boxing rarely delivers fights with broad mainstream appeal, one that elbows its way out out of the boxing bubble and into the mainstream. This is one.
“Basically, this is my dream,” says Garcia. “My dream is to be the biggest fighter in the world and to fight the best and put on great shows and inspire the world with truth. And I think this fight will give me that voice. That's what I aspire to do, so I think this fight will really give me that once I beat Tank.”
Garcia will be watching on Jan. 7, when Davis faces Hector Luis Garcia. He may even attend. Hector Garcia is an accomplished 130-pound champion. But Ryan isn’t worried about an upset. “He’s just not on Tank’s level,” says Garcia. On that night, says Garcia, he will be Davis’s biggest fan. “I want Tank to knock him out cold,” says Garcia. “It will make our fight even more interesting.”
Indeed. Garcia knows he could do his part for the promotion. He could agree to face Gesta, spend weeks talking about anyone but Gesta and then deliver a highlight reel message by flattening Gesta. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it, to focus on one opponent when his mind was firmly on another.
“I really just want to focus on the fight that matters,” says Garcia. “And the only fight that matters to me is Tank.”
