Javier Fortuna is the ideal preparation for a fight against Gervonta Davis according to Ryan Garcia.
On July 16 Garcia faces the former WBA Super Featherweight champion in Los Angeles knowing only a win will take him another step closer to his ideal fight against ‘Tank’.
Speaking on the The DAZN Boxing Show Garcia said:
“I know that Fortuna comes to fight, and I want an aggressive fighter against me.”
“To me Javier was the perfect opponent for myself. And to set up a fight with Tank I think it makes the most sense.”
“Short southpaw that’s aggressive, not young, a veteran, he’s a little crafty in there. To me it prepares me for Tank much more than JoJo [Diaz]. I think that to me it’s the best option because my mind is set on fighting Gervonta Davis.”
Diaz had been set to face Garcia last November, but the latter pulled out with an injury. The two have been continually linked to a fight against one another since then.
Fortuna dropped a unanimous decision to Diaz that summer, but Garcia isn’t interested in a measuring stick.
Garcia then laid some smack on Diaz who has accused his rival of ‘playing games’ following his pullout.
“I will get him [Fortuna] out of there early.”
“JoJo’s nowhere near my level. He’s not even an afterthought in my mind. I don’t think about him, he doesn’t even cross my mind ever.”
“I feel like JoJo is like a bumblebee, I don’t know the difference between a JoJo and a bumblebee.”
Garcia now knows the difference however between a good bet and a bad bet after losing $20,000 to Errol Spence Jr after a gentleman’s wager.
The two fighters were sat near one another for the Gervonta Davis vs Rolly Romero bout over three weeks ago. A handshake was captured on camera, and it was revealed Garcia had bet on Romero to win while the unified welterweight champion opted for Tank who stopped his foe in round six.
Despite being poorer for his visit to Brooklyn Garcia made some observations in Davis’ performance which he thinks can be used to his advantage should he get the opportunity to face him.
“I can say even more so that I am confident of beating Tank and stopping him. I seen a lot of things in that fight. I personally wouldn’t have made [the same] mistakes as Rolly did.”
“Rolly doesn’t have that much experience, he’s only been fighting since he was 17. You can see his emotions got to him in the later stretch of the rounds. He just started overshooting for no apparent reason. He was winning the fight.”
“In that type of fight, that magnitude, nobody cares if you knock out Tank as long as you win. So, the fact he thought he needed to knock out Tank was his downfall. I seen a couple of things in there that I’m even more so confident [of winning]. I was already confident before.”