Andy Ruiz Jr believes Ryan Garcia didn’t “risk his life enough” in his loss to Gervonta Davis.
The two young stars took to the stage in Las Vegas this weekend for an extremely-hyped event that delivered an intense, if relatively one-sided, main event.
Garcia swarmed ‘Tank’ and showed off his speed early, but he was knocked down for his troubles. When he did the same later in the fight, a body shot sent him to his knees.
The previously undefeated Californian watched as the referee counted him out, unable to stand until 10 had been reached.
Davis won via seventh round TKO stoppage, and, although it was a good performance, many viewers asked in the aftermath if Garcia couldn’t have carried on.
As a fellow Mexican-American, Ruiz said he was supporting Garcia, but it didn’t stop a scathing review via Instagram after the fact. Without saying it directly, Ruiz seems to believe Garcia quit before he had to.
“Gervonta did what he had to do man. He won the fight. I was wanting for Ryan but he gave up, man. I feel like he gave up. I feel like he should’ve did what he had to do to win the fight.
When we get down we gotta get back up. We gotta ask God for that victory … He should’ve did more. He should’ve risked his life more.”
It’s an accusation that often hovers around TKOs, and, unfortunately for Garcia, seems to be one he’ll had to defend.
Ruiz, a former heavyweight world champion, briefly trained alongside him in Eddy Reynoso’s gym, but both men moved on not long after.
Post-fight Garcia didn’t say a lot about the finishing shot, although did agree that it was hard to breathe and that it was too much for him to continue.
In the press conference afterwards, he paid respect to Davis and told the media that he would be moving up to 140lb for good.