Tank Davis Versus Ryan Garcia Fight Potential Show/Thunder Stealer of 2023
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 29 Mar 2023
When was the last time a non title bout not only threatened but actually upstaged a major world championship fight?
That was when Floyd Mayweather Jr for the nth time unretired and agreed to fight MMA superstar Conor McGregor in a boxing bout set for ten rounds in September of 2018 forcing Saul Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin to move their much awaited rematch for the undisputed middleweight championship for later in the year.
The decision proved right as the Mayweather vs McGregor fight generated pay per view numbers that ranked alongside the most Floyd had earlier achieved while registering a live viewership high. Had Canelo and Golovkin continued their fight as earlier scheduled which was proximate to that fight, it would have surely paled in comparison.
But talking of non title fight featuring two real boxers, it was ten years earlier in 2008 when Oscar De La Hoya fought Manny Pacquiao in a 10 round catchweight match set at welterweight. That fight was won by TKO by Pacquiao which until then was fighting as a lightweight when he forced Dela Hoya to quit in his stool after the eighth round. That fight trumped all major title fights in 2008 including the Hopkins-Calzhage and Cotto-Margarito while generating 1.6 million pay per view buys.
A repetition may happen this year when Tank Davis fights Ryan Garcia in a 10 round non title fight set at 136 lbs this April ahead of the Devin Haney versus Vassiliy Lomachenko fight for the undisputed world lightweight championship in May.
Davis tangles against Garcia on April 22, 2023 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada as main event of a joint promotion by TGB of Tom Brown, Golden Boy of Oscar De La Hoya and the Mayweather Promotion of Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight will be shown via pay per view on Showtime and potentially DAZN which has carried Garcia's previous bouts.
Meanwhile Haney makes the second defense of his undisputed world lightweight championship on May 20, 2023 against former undisputed titlist and pound for pound king Lomachenko at the MGM Grand as main event of a joint promotion by Bob Arum's Top Rank, Lou DiBella's DiBella Entertainment and Devin Haney. The fight will be shown via pay per view on ESPN.
As early as now the Davis vs Garcia Fight is showing signs it could steal the Thunder from the Haney vs Lomachenko bout as it is being talked about more by fans in the USA and the UK.
In fact the Davis vs Garcia pay per view cost is placed at almost $85.00 while the Haney vs Lomachenko PPV is pegged at only $60.00.
While the Davis vs Garcia PPV cost looked extremely high, the promoters especially Oscar De La Hoya are confident that it could be sustained as both Tank and Ryan are proven crowd drawers and have plenty of fans including in the social media where casual boxing followers abound.
Eddie Hearn though would be haggling for a lower PPV cost per pop at DAZN for UK and European audiences.
The Davis vs Garcia Fight would also not lack in drama due to the contentious rehydration clause on Garcia.
We shall see when these fights unfolded this spring.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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