Ryan Garcia has revealed a rehydration clause in his contracted bout with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
The pair faced off in New York for the first time since the fight was made official, and Garcia was quick to say that he has taken the bad end of the deal in order to give fans a mega fight.
As he waited for Davis to show up – he did after around two hours – Garcia spoke to the broadcast about the terms of the contract, revealing a rehydration clause that will see him weigh no more than 146lb on the morning of the fight.
“He likes to fight people with no power so he’s tying to weight drain me … There’s a rehydration clause, I can’t gain more than ten pounds.
There’s a lot of stipulations in there that show what kind of character he has. His integrity and the will of a competitor – he doesn’t have it. He doesn’t have the heart of a champion. Look at how he represents himself as a champion. He’s not even here.”
It’s been widely known that the bout will favour ‘Tank’ at the 136lb limit. The Baltimore boxer has fought the majority of his recent contests at the lightweight limit of 135lb, with the one exception being a 140lb super lightweight fight against Mario Barrios in 2021.
The last time Garcia weighed under this catchweight limit was his 135lb contest with the UK’s Luke Campbell in January 2021. Since then he has fought at 140 against Emmanuel Tagoe and Javier Fortuna, and almost certainly entered the ring a good bit heavier.
He went on to say why he took the fight with the weight clauses.
“I was tired of the misconception about myself. And I thought to myself, you know what, I’m gonna do whatever I have to do to make this fight happen.
I picked the fans and I picking boxing in itself before myself, because a lot of the time during this negotiation I probably should’ve said no.”
He’ll face ‘Tank’ – weight permitting – on April 22 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A co-promotion and broadcast that will be an early contender and likely winner of the biggest fight of the year.