Ryan “KingRy”Garcia vs Gervonta “Tank” Davis Fight Analysis
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 20 Apr 2023
This coming Saturday night on April 22, 2023 in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile arena, the sport of boxing makes a comeback by giving boxing fans a fight they want to see. Two undefeated fighters getting in the ring to prove who the best fighter is. Ryan “KingRy” Garcia will face Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
Tank holds a professional record of 28-0, 26KOs and is the current WBA “Regular” lightweight champion. Tank has won 3 world titles in 3 weight divisions (130lbs, 135lbs, 140lbs). Tank is exciting, has power, and sells out arenas when he fights.
Ryan Garcia is undefeated as well with a record of 23-0, 19KOs. He has only held an interim world title (WBC 135lbs interim title), but is still a star in boxing. Ryan has great power, teen idol looks, is of Mexican descent, and has loyal social media following of approx. 9.5 million people. The winner of Garcia vs Davis stands at the threshold of being the new face of boxing along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. What must each fighter do to secure victory on Saturday night? First, what must Tank do to earn the victory?
On paper, Ryan has a slight advantage because of his height and longer reach. Victory and success over tall fighters with reach is nothing new for Tank. Tank has always found a way to overcome the height and reach advantage. Former foes Santa Cruz, Barrios, and Rolly Romero were all taller than Tank and he knocked out all three fighters in impressive fashion. Tank is an excellent counterpuncher. He knows how to evade a jab and land his punches. When Tank connects with his punches he makes it count. As Tank has tendency to do, he must not give up early rounds as he did in the past with fighters like Barrios or Rolly even though he was able to knock them out later in the fight.
Garcia will likely try to build up an early lead behind his jab and try to coast to a decision victory. Tank will likely try to set traps for Garcia to over commit with his punches and then counter with big punches to hurt and possibly stop Garcia. Tank must capitalize on any and all mistakes by Garcia. Tank is an excellent finisher when he hurts his opponent. If Tank hurts and scores a knockdown over Garcia, he must finish Garcia so he does not gain confidence and rebound as he did after Luke Campbell knocked him down.
In Regard’s to preparation for the fight Tank has an excellent trainer in Calvin Ford. Tank is trainer Calvin Ford’s master piece. Tank is Ford’s first and only world champion from scratch. Ford has done a wonderful job with Tank. Based on interviews with Tank it appears Ford, like any other capable trainer, will devise a game plan to exploit the holes or weakness in Garcia fighting style.
What must Garcia do to earn the victory against Tank?
Garcia has to use his physical advantages such as reach and height behind a good stiff jab. Specifically, the jab is to keep distance between him and Tank’s power punches. If Garcia’s jab is effective it will disrupt Tank’s rhythm and set up Garcia’s own power punches. Garcia must use the entire ring by boxing and use good footwork. At the first fight press conference in New York City, Tank said Garcia did not have good foot work. Garcia responded by saying that he knew what he had to go and work on in training camp.
Garcia’s defense on Saturday must be perfect. Tank will be looking for Garcia to use his best weapon, the left hook, and look to counter it. Mentally, Garcia must not get caught up with the Mexican pride by going for the knockout unless the opportunity really presents itself. Garcia was ringside for the Tank vs Rolly fight. Rolly was countered and knocked out when he was solely looking for the knockout. Garcia must be content to make it a long night for Tank by boxing behind a good jab. In the words of a renowned trainer who helped his pupils attain superstardom, “win this fight, look good the next one”.
However, Garcia will have to take some chances. In small spurts Garcia must make Tank respect him by imposing punching power with good combinations with “bad intentions”. That could make the difference in how the fight plays out if Tank respects Garcia’s power. The winner of the fight between the two is he who is able to execute his game plan over the other fighter’s game plan. Garcia will have famed trainer Joe Goossen in his corner who will be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame the week after the fight after 53 years in boxing! Goossen has brought fighters from the amateurs to professionals who have one world titles. Remember the Ruelas brothers (Gabriel and Rafael)? Or Joel Casamayor? Remember his work with Michael Nunn and the late Diego Corrales? If anyone can help Garcia rise to the next level Joe Goossen can. This writer envisions a scenario were both fighters stun or hurt each other with power punches making it a good fight worth the Pay Per view price tag of $84.99 to watch the fight. This writer picks Garcia to defeat Tank by close split decision victory 7 rounds to 5 rounds.
Boxing Notes
Dimitry Bivol says that he wants the rematch with Canelo to be for Canelo’s undisputed super middleweight titles which would be at 168lbs. Bivol points out that Canelo has already won a title at 175lbs (defeated Kovalev for WBO 175lbs belt back in 2019). Word is Canelo want’s to rematch for Bivol’s WBA title at 175lbs. Word is because of both fighter’s stance on what weight and what championship the rematch may not happen. This should NOT be a major issue. Both fighter’s titles should be contested for as there is a precedence for such Hybrid fight. Back in 1988, Sugar Ray Leonard fought Donny Lalonde and both the WBC 168lbs and WBC 175lbs titles were both contested for. Leonard knocked out Lalonde in the 9th round and won both titles. Fast forward to the present. Canelo and Bivol should simply fight at 168lbs with Canelo’s and Bivol’s titles simultaneously contested for. All both camps have to do is ask ALL sanctioning bodies for approval. It’s that simple…Will Crawford vs Spence really be announced on April 22, 2023 on the Tank vs Ryan Garcia PPV card for June 17, 2023? That would be great. Let’s see what happens.
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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