The only man to drop Ryan Garcia, Luke Campbell, has made his prediction for his upcoming fight against Gervonta Davis.
Campbell faced Garcia back in 2021, and, from his southpaw stance, stunted his air of invincibilty with a left hook in the second round. Garcia dropped to the canvas but was back up quickly. He would go on to recover and win the bout in the seventh with a crisp body shot.
In the other corner, Davis has been outboxed for periods of fights, but he’s yet to face that sort of adversity. Despite that, Campbell told Boxing News that he was picking his former opponent to win when they face off this weekend.
“Garcia wins. He’s the bigger man – Tank’s always fought bigger guys anyhow, don’t get me wrong, [but] I don’t think Tank’s got the work rate to keep up with Garcia for a start.
Tank’s made for Garcia – he’s shorter, got a smaller reach. He’s fast, but with Garcia’s timing and his speed he beats Tank. If he don’t knock him out, he beats him on points.”
The Olympic Gold Medalist has some praise for ‘Tank’, too, but not enough to sway him the other way.
“Tank’s a beast; he’s technical. He’s got the power – that one shot to pull out of a bag. When he fought [Rolando] Romero he was six rounds down, then he got a little bit careless and walked on to a shot.
Usually a big puncher doesn’t have a massive work rate. But with Garcia’s athletic ability, his speed and timing and his punch ferocity, he beats Tank – and he certainly can take a shot. His best shot’s his right hook.”
Garcia has an 82.6% knockout rate to ‘Tank’s 92.9% – those stats are the reason not many are predicting it to go the full 12. If it does, Campbell is confident Garcia’s attributes come out on top over the distance.
It’s against the oddsmakers, who have Davis as favourite, but it’s by no means wide and Garcia’s confidence is hard to look past.