Barry McGuigan has joined the debate surrounding Gervonta Davis’ body shop stoppage of Ryan Garcia.
The pair fought in Las Vegas in front of a sold out crowd and in over 1.2 million homes. Without belts on the line, only stardom was at stake.
It was ‘Tank’ Davis who left the ring victorious, having dropped Garcia in the second and finishing him off in the seventh. It was a crisp left hand to the ribcage that did it, and the 24-year-old took a knee before watching the referee count him out.
In the aftermath, many fighters and analysts have said they believe Garcia ‘quit.’ McGuigan, a hall of fame fighter turned manager and promoter, doesn’t subscribe to that.
“Those who said Ryan Garcia quit have never taken a punch. Anyone who has fought at the highest level will know that the kind of body shot thrown by Gervonta Davis in Las Vegas is almost impossible to defend.
Speaking in his Mirror column, McGuigan recalled his fight with Angelo Licata before praising ‘Tank’s power.
“I remember fighting Belgian Angelo Licata at the Ulster Hall in my tenth fight. He was very good, more experienced and bigger than me. I was worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew. In the second round I threw a left, he put his hands up and I buried a left hook into his body.
He dropped to his knees for a second then began reeling all over the floor. The fight was over. He didn’t quit either. That was 40 years ago. The game hasn’t changed.
Garcia is tall and skinny and vulnerable to body shots. He was in the fight and doing well. But at lightweight Tank wipes everybody out.”
Garcia is expected to move up to the 140lb ranks to get his campaign back on track, whilst fans would like to see ‘Tank’ in with the winner of undisputed lightweight champion, Devin Haney, facing Vasiliy Lomachenko.