Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia will lace up and face off in the ring on April 22 – and there appears to be plenty of differences to settle.
The two young, undefeated stars have broken down promotional and broadcast barriers to make the Las Vegas bout happen, with the winner undoubtedly cementing his status as one of the biggest names in the sport.
During media for the scrap, Davis told FightHype.com that he has lost all respect for his opponent, and pinpointed the moment it happened.
“Me losing respect for him just was like recently. First of all, he lied about [the contract]. Why would you even lie and put that out there that we put in the contract that you can’t drink no water or anything.
You said it with a serious face. Of course people that’s not boxing fans gonna believe it. Some people in the boxing world believed it.”
Garcia has been vocal about both the catchweight of 136lb and the reported rehydration clause of 10lb. It means he’ll have to weigh just 146lb on the morning of the fight, likely considerably less than he’s used to.
As the bigger man, it’s a benefit to ‘Tank’, and he’s been called out for stacking the odds in his favour.
The boxer from Baltimore went onto highlight certain aspects of Garcia’s lifestyle that he didn’t like.
“He says ‘I praise God’ and everything but he drink a lot, he gamble a lot. He do all this stuff. I’m not saying it’s [bad], just don’t say ‘I’m this highly praise God person, I don’t do nothing wrong.'”
“Yeah, for sure [he’s a hypocrite]. Even on All Access [documentary], he was on the jet gambling. He need to relax. He only 24 … He’s more of a bad person than me.”
There’s no love lost between the pair, which adds yet another layer of intrigue to a fight that already has fans considerably hyped.