Floyd Mayweather Jr has told Ryan Garcia he will make the fight with Gervonta Davis but under one condition – he has to return to lightweight.
The former fighter, who is now in the promotional corner of ‘Tank’ Davis, watched Garcia continue his sharp ascent to the top last weekend.
Mayweather witnessed 23-year-old Garcia’s stunning display against Javier Fortuna at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Garcia floored former WBA super-featherweight world champion Fortuna three times en-route to claiming the stoppage in the sixth round of a scheduled 12.
And Mayweather, who will have watched as Dominican-born Fortuna was down in rounds four, five and six, has promised that he will do his part to make the eagerly-anticipated showdown between Garcia and WBA ‘regular’ lightweight champion Davis, provided former ‘Canelo’ stablemate Garcia goes back to 135 pounds.
Both men have fought at lightweight but Garcia’s last two fights have been at 10st while Davis has also previously fought in the bigger division.
Speaking to FightHype, Mayweather said:
“The main man in the sport of boxing right now is the man that is attached to me, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.”
“That’s the only thing this kid, Ryan Garcia, that’s the only thing he know is Tank.”
“‘I want to fight Tank; I don’t care if it’s the biggest fight.’ Okay, you want to fight Tank. In boxing, we make sacrifices. So, we know that Tank fights at 135. If you want to fight Tank at 135, we can make it happen before the end of the year.”
Mayweather insisting that Garcia must fight Davis at lightweight could cause some issues, given that Garcia has not fought at the weight since January 2021. Mayweather added:
“If there’s certain things you want in the sport of boxing, like Ryan Garcia really wants this fight with Tank.”
“So if you really want this fight with Tank, sacrifice. We have to make sacrifices.”
Oscar De La Hoya, a former opponent of Mayweather, is in the promotional corner of Garcia – and the pair would have to come to an agreement if one of the most sought after fights of recent times is to be signed, sealed and delivered.
‘Money’ went on to say:
“Even though I knew I wasn’t a 154-pounder, I knew there were certain sacrifices that I had to make. Oscar De La Hoya chose the gloves, chose the judges, and he chose everything.”
“He chose the weight class; he chose everything.”
“I knew I was the better fighter; I felt I was the better fighter, and I showed y’all that I was the better fighter. Guess what I did? I made sacrifices.”
Last time Garcia made the 135-pound limit was when he stopped Luke Campbell, the British Olympic gold medallist, and Mayweather is imploring the sensational talent to do so again in order to give the fans what they desire.
“If you feel like you can beat Tank, and you the better fighter, then guess what? Make sacrifices. You just fought at 135 [last year]. We can fight in 90 days if you want to. Whatever you want to do.”
“It’s not going to be difficult to make. It’s not going to be a problem.”
“This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to turn down a lot of things, but we’re not going to turn down money. We’ve all done some foolish things in life, but we’re not no damn fool. So now, I’ll let Oscar know this. We can make the fight happen.”