Ryan Garcia recently claimed to be the best fighter on the planet and that his upcoming opponent, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, did not want to take their recently announced fight.
After a disappointing year for the sport where the collapse of huge fights dominated the headlines, it seems 2023 will get off to a better start.
Following the announcement, 24-year-old Garcia has revealed that it was Davis who was running away and preventing the two unbeaten lightweights from facing one another.
But, if Ryan Garcia is as good as he says he is, who could blame Tank for avoiding the fight? ‘King Ry’ told ESPN that he believes that he is the best fighter on the planet and that he is going to ‘whoop’ the man who he has wanted to face since he was just seventeen years old.
“This fight means everything to me. Since I was a young kid, I’ve always wanted the biggest fights in the world, it’s been my dream and it’s finally here. I had to chase him down, but we finally made it happen.
He was running from me, he was. Like I said, I made it happen, the stars aligned perfect and now it’s time to show everybody that I am the best fighter in the world. I’ve been the best since I was a young kid, was one of the best in the amateurs and now I’m here in the pro’s.
I’ve been asking for this fight since I was seventeen, eighteen years old. There are videos of me calling him out. I guess he always wanted to take a little easier route, which is fine, you can see by his opposition. He’s finally here. All I’ve got to say is that all that doesn’t matter now, the fight is happening and I’m going to whoop him, bad.”
The fight is set to take place in Las Vegas on April 15th, with Tank due to fight on January 7th against WBA super-featherweight champion Hector Garcia in a relatively difficult ‘tune up’.
Ryan Garcia will also choose to take a fight in the meantime, but boxing fanatics in the United States will be hoping both fighters make it to April with no lasting damage.
The bout is set at a catchweight of 136lbs, a rather strange 1lb above the lightweight limit.