Ryan Garcia receives clear message from Gervonta Davis after Javier Fortuna stoppage

Gervonta Davis has told Ryan Garcia that he will see him at the end of the year after ‘KingRy’ called out ‘Tank’ post-fight on Sunday morning. Garcia stopped Javier Fortuna in the sixth round of their contest in Los Angeles and immediately took to the mic to send a message to Davis.

“I’m never going back down to 135, I’m going to stay at 140, I’m going to fight ‘Tank’ Davis if he wants it at 140,” said Garcia, 23. “And if he doesn’t, then I’ll go fight some 140-pounder. But he’s going to want to do it. There’s going to be riots if he don’t want to do it. I know that I’m committed to it and I told everybody that that’s where my heart’s positioned and I’m not going to waver for nobody.”

In response, Davis tweeted: “See y’all the end of the year..#TheONE”

Garcia looked extremely impressive during his second outing at light welterweight, as he knocked down his opponent in rounds 4,5, and 6 on route to the eventual stoppage. Fortuna – a former super-featherweight WBA (regular) champion – clearly struggled with the speed and range of Garcia as he was picked apart at will by the young star.

Garcia — like Davis — has operated at lightweight for the majority of his career but recently made the switch after returning to the ring following his battles with mental health issues. Davis has only fought at light-welterweight once during a WBA (regular) title fight against Mario Barrios. Although Davis came away the victor on the night, ‘Tank’ clearly struggled with the size of his opponent and hasn’t returned since.

It seems both men do genuinely want to meet each other in the ring, but it’s less certain whether Davis would return to 140lb to fight a far bigger foe. Garcia is 5-foot-10 and walks around above 160 pounds while Davis is 5-foot-5 and a half and has comfortably made super-featherweight on multiple occasions. 

Clearly, Garcia’s recent weight switch may throw a spanner in the works but it’s not the only issue. Both men work for rival promoters — Garcia fights for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Davis works with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). The two companies don’t have a vast history of working together and this may be the ultimate undoing of the contest.

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You only have to look back to the proposed middleweight contest between Jermall Charlo and Jaime Munguia earlier this year. Charlo is with PBC and Showtime, while Munguia is with Golden Boy and DAZN. The inability to reach an agreement between the two parties led to the fight falling through and there are fears this may happen again with Garcia and Davis.

And this is all before negotiations begin, which could present yet another obstacle. The fight between Garcia and Davis has been on the cards for quite some time. The pair seemingly agreed to a contest during Ryan Garcia’s appearance on Mike Tyson’s Hot Boxin’ podcast last year but nothing came of it — a frustrating reminder of the deep-rooted issue of boxing politics.

Will this fight ever happen? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, there is certainly an appetite for a Garcia-Davis showdown and it has the definite potential to be a box office hit.