By: Sean Crose
Rule one of following boxing:
Unless it’s in writing, take it with a grain of salt. Perhaps two or three grains.
That’s why it’s important to not get too breathless when you hear things like the recent rumor that Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia are getting close to signing a contract to fight. We heard that about Errol Spence and Terrance Crawford recently, if I’m not mistaken. Speaking of Spence and Crawford, promoter Eddie Hearn believes that, as big as their hoped for fight might have been – or perhaps will still be – a Davis-Garcia fight may well prove to be the bigger battle.
“Maybe, honestly a bigger fight,” Hearn said to the DAZN Boxing Show of a Davis-Garcia bout, “but they don’t need Spence-Crawford money.” In other words, more for less. “I’m telling you,” the Matchroom honcho continued, “Ryan Garcia against Tank Davis is a monster fight. If I’m putting up the money, for either of those fights, I’m putting the money up for Tank against Ryan Garcia. That’s where I’m putting my neck on the line.” Garcia is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions while Davis is promoted by Floyd Mayweather’s Mayweather Promotions.
While most would argue welterweights Spence and Crawford remain two of the top, if not THE two top, fighters in the world, Hearn feels that lightweights Davis and Garcia, both younger fighters, are more accessible to the public in general. “Two different fan bases,” Hearn said of Garcia and Davis, “very powerful on social media. Another kid who’s very exciting, controversial, that’s the bigger fight, the bigger draw.” This all comes on the heels of Hearn recently telling FightHub that “the biggest fight in the (lightweight) division by a mile is Tank (Davis) against Ryan Garcia.” Although purists may prefer a lightweight championship chess match between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko, Hearn feels that, as with Spence and Crawford, Davis and Garcia possess more of the it factor.
“I hear, just like you hear, that it’s close,” Hearn said of a Davis-Garcia fight (remember that grain of salt), “For me, that’s one of the biggest fights in the sport.” The bottom line? Hearn knows that which of he speaks when he talks boxing. As great as Spence, Crawford, Lomacenko and Haney may be, they don’t excite like Davis and Garcia do. And excitement can spread, even beyond boxing’s general fan base.