By: Sean Crose
“Whoever’s willing to fight me – I’ll fight them.” So said Gervonta Davis on a recent interview with Elie Seckbach of ESNews. Davis just finished up meeting Ryan Garcia for the first time on Mike Tyson’s podcast. “That’s my first time speaking to him standing up close,” Davis said. “It was just us talking trash…I think he’s a fan of mine.” Sure enough, neither Davis nor Garcia seem to bear much ill will towards each other…yet they also genuinely seem to want to get it on in the ring, which is nothing but good news for fight fans.
“I’m definitely looking forward to fighting Ryan my next fight,” he told Seckbach. “It’s good for boxing.” Hearing such things from a contemporary fighter is quite refreshing. When, after all, was the last time a high level boxer talk about what’s good for the sport? “Everybody,” Davis added, “likes to see the fight.” He’s right. This is a fight that would bring with it huge levels of excitement. With both men being young and tech-popular, this is also a fight that could actually generate interest outside boxing’s core fan base. As with Teofimo Lopez and Vasyl Lomachenko, who recently faced off, each man’s willingness to put it all on the line would speak well to his character and sense of sportsmanship.
Seckbach asked Davis how he thought the fight would go. “It’s just me catching him with the right shot,” Davis said. “It’s going to be tricky the beginning of the fight. Once I get past it, it’s not going to take long for me to get in there and hurt him.” Surprisingly enough, Davis admitted he called Garcia before the Californian’s recent match with Luke Campbell. “I told him to handle his business,” said Davis. Needless to say, Davis claimed Garcia was surprised to hear from him, at least at that moment.
The 26-0 Davis is a WBA champion at both super featherweight and lightweight. His last fight was a Halloween night victory over Leo Santa Cruz, who he decimated with a thunderous shot in the sixth round. The Baltimore fighter has won all but one of his fights by knockout. As for Garcia, the 21-0 rising star won the WBC lightweight title last week when he stopped Luke Campbell with a terrific body shot in the seventh. That fight answered a lot of questions about Garcia for observers. Now it seems there’s an even bigger question for both he and Davis to answer.