NEW YORK – Gervonta Davis doesn’t perceive why Ryan Garcia skipped his proposed tune-up bout earlier than their showdown April 22.
Davis defeated a beforehand unbeaten 130-pound world champion, Hector Luis Garcia, not an overmatched opponent, January 7 at Capital One Area in Washington, D.C. The Baltimore native nonetheless thought-about the chance concerned in taking one other combat previous to boxing Garcia worthwhile as a result of he didn’t need his layoff to increase to nearly 11 months earlier than the Garcia combat.
Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) would’ve fought Filipino southpaw Mercito Gesta (33-3-3, 17 KOs), a lesser opponent than Davis confronted, on January 28 had Garcia opted to get some rounds in earlier than he opposes Davis. In the end, although, Garcia didn’t need to danger an harm or a reduce that might’ve prohibited him from combating Davis in April.
“I simply felt the struggles of creating this combat and the issues that needed to be executed, how lengthy it was dragging out, I simply didn’t wanna put that [at] danger,” Garcia mentioned throughout a press convention Wednesday at Palladium Occasions Sq.. “Not for the loss, however you would harm your hand, head-butts, lotta totally different points that might happen in a combat. So, I selected to not, to safe this combat and make it possible for it’s assured. I didn’t wait that lengthy simply to mess it up on the end line, so I made certain we received to the end line. That’s why I selected to not get a tune-up.”
The 24-year-old Garcia suffered an harm to his proper hand that required surgical procedure in October 2021 and triggered him to withdraw from a combat in opposition to Joseph Diaz Jr. Garcia was speculated to defend his WBC interim light-weight title versus Diaz, a former IBF junior light-weight champ, in November 2021.
Garcia, of Victorville, California, ultimately returned to the ring final April 9, when he out-pointed Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe (32-2, 15 KOs) unanimously of their 12-rounder at Alamodome in San Antonio. His victory over Tagoe ended a 15-month layoff, as Garcia hadn’t boxed since his seventh-round stoppage of England’s Luke Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs) in January 2021 at American Airways Heart in Dallas.
Davis’ rival will halt a nine-month layoff once they sq. off in a Showtime Pay-Per-View predominant occasion subsequent month at T-Cell Area in Las Vegas. Garcia final fought July 16, the evening he dropped Dominican southpaw Javier Fortuna (37-4-1, 26 KOs, 2 NC) as soon as apiece within the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds on his method to a sixth-round knockout at Crypto.com Area in Los Angeles.
The 28-year-old Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) badly harm Hector Luis Garcia late within the eighth spherical of their combat for Davis’ WBA secondary light-weight title two months in the past. Garcia (16-1, 10 KOs, 3 NC) didn’t reply the bell for the beginning of the ninth spherical.
Keith Idec is a senior author/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He may be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
