By: Sean Crose
Tonight, the biggest fight the sport of boxing has presented in years is going down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 28-0 Gervonta Davis will take on the 23-0 Ryan Garcia in a scheduled 12 rounder at a catch weight of 136 pounds. Just how big is this fight? Big enough to be the most talked about throwdown in the sport even though no major titles are at stake. There’s a reason for this – both fighters are young, brash, and can hit hard enough to take down a wall.
To put it in perspective: both men have fought a combined 53 times without losing. Only six of those combined fights have lasted until the final bell. That means there’s a nearly 90% knockout ratio between the fighters. That’s more than impressive considering the point each man’s career is at. Throw in the fact that Davis brings in massive crowds and Garcia has a massive social medial following that’s well into the millions and the hype becomes not only understandable, but warranted. Oh, and neither man seems to be a fan of the other. Garcia has been working hard to get in Davis’ head in the lead up to the battle and Davis shoved Garcia at the weigh in. Suffice to say, tensions are high heading into this evening.
On a relevant side note, this fight was not easy to make. Davis fights under the Premier Boxing Champions umbrella, which is run by the enigmatic Al Haymon, a publicity shy individual who is none the less beloved by the those who fight under the Premier Boxing Champions banner. Garcia, on the other hand, fights under the Golden Boy Promotions umbrella, which is run by former ring great Oscar De la Hoya (who, unlike Haymon, is most distinctly not publicity shy). Rarely are big fights made these days between fighters from different organizational camps.
This whole contemporary way of doing things has given boxing another in an historically endless line of black eyes. The fact that both Davis and Garcia pushed their respective teams to make this one happen speaks well of each man. A result of this coming together of entities is that tonight’s pay per view event, which will begin at 8PM eastern time, will be available on various outlets, such as Showtime Pay Per View, DAZN Pay Per View, and PPV.com.
As for who will win:
There’s a reason I’m looking forward to this match. Like all great pairings, it begs the question of who will emerge victorious without providing any concrete answers. The fact is that these guys are pretty evenly matched. Plus, there’s the matter or power. All either man has to do is land hard once. Just once. Things might simply be humming along before abruptly collapsing to the canvas courtesy of a Davis uppercut or a Garcia left hook. It’s that kind of fight.
With that being said, I’m going to predict Davis will emerge victorious via stoppage in the 10th. His footwork is better than Garcia’s, and in a fight of this nature, that will make all the difference. In short – Davis maneuvers around the ring more effectively than Garcia does. That means he’ll be better than Garcia in setting himself up to land the good shots. The reason I expect this one to go into the later rounds is simple – both men will be at their absolute best tonight, and it will take some time, wear and tear, and good old fashioned exhaustion before either fighter starts really leaving himself vulnerable to attack.
So there it is: Davis in 10 in what might turn out to be more of a high scale chess match than people expect.