
Ladies and Gentlemen! Boxing fans around the world! The sport of boxing has a new rivalry sparking between two of the top fighters in the sport. A confrontation if settled, can take that fighter to the superstardom that they want to possess. Who am I talking about? I’m talking about Golden Boy’s own Ryan Garcia and gritty Baltimore, MD native Gervonta Davis. Over the past few weeks, both fighters have shown a promise they want to take each other on head to head as soon as possible. With constant twitter shots back and forth, the boxing community can only hope that this isn’t a fight that takes years to take place. Unfortunately, due to the current Coronavirus Pandemic, there is no timetable for this bout. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t be entertained in the meantime.
On one side of the tape, we have Gervonta “Tank” Davis. Who over the last few years has developed himself into a southpaw machine with undeniable characteristics to Mike Tyson. While Baltimore, MD has the National Aquarium and Inner Harbor, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. A side where you are often met with circumstances of adversity and struggle. While facing these tribulations, Tank never succumb to misfortune and used his hardship to fuel his fire to become a star.
This 135 pound WBA Lightweight Champion has a solid record of 23-0 with a knockout percentage of 95%. In those 23 bouts, he’s only had to fight 79 rounds. Most of his fights are short-lived by devastating hooks and impregnable defense.
Gervonta faced trouble in his last bout against Yuriokis Gamboa. The bout left “Tank” fan’s mind boggled because of a careless fight style and inability to quickly knockout an opponent who injured his Achilles in early rounds. The fight eventually ended with a 12th round TKO making Davis the WBA Lightweight Champion titleholder. In all honesty, this fight should have been over by round 6.
On the other side of the record, we have Ryan Garcia. Ryan “Kingry” Garcia is a natural 135-pound fighter from Victorville, CA. This orthodox fighter has a current record of 20-0 with 17 weighed by knockout. The talent this kid possesses at only the age of 21 is truly special. His reach of 70 inches accompanied with lightning quickness and true knockout power is something the boxing world has taken note of for the past few years. Though he is often viewed as a clean-faced-Instagram views boxer, Ryan has made it his due diligence to prove doubters wrong.
“2020 is the year to show everyone that I’ve got the skill and talent to take on bigger challenges”- Ryan Garcia
“I’ve been working hard and training every day, and I’ve sacrificed a lot of things to become a better fighter”- Ryan Garcia 2020
The feud between Tank and Kingray dates back with tweets in 2018.
The tweets speak for themselves. Leonard Ellerbe (CEO of Mayweather Promotions) and Oscar Del A Hoya (Founder of Golden Boy Promotions) needs to get a contract signed between these two sooner than later. With Floyd Mayweather standing strong behind Gervonta and Oscar Del A Hoya’s confidence in Ryan Garcia, this fight can be one for the ages. This fight has the potential to give us the great show that both those legends put on for the boxing world back in 2007. The fight between Mayweather vs Oscar Del A Hoya was decided by a split decision and history tends to repeat itself. With Gervonta’s recent success in PPV sales, the projected numbers of a fight between two of boxings best fighters has to be a sellout.
With both fighters coming off knockout wins in recent months, both fighters are on a high with hopes and aspirations to only achieve greater than expected. I think it’s very interesting that Ryan finished his last opponent, Francisco Fonseca in a way faster fashion than Gervonta. Garcia finished Fonseca in 80 seconds with a vicious left-hand knockout in the opening 30 seconds and eventually finished him in the first round. A very bold statement towards Gervonta because this was a fight that was projected to go into the middle rounds.
Gervonta fought Fonseca in August of 2017. Davis won by a TKO but it wasn’t until the eighth round. This isn’t much to look into but it does draw a few questions. Is Ryan stronger? Could Ryan potentially take out one of the biggest up and coming fighters in the sport? Only time will tell and hopefully it is sooner than later.