By Charles Brun: Ryan Garcia wants his fight against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis to be DAZN’s first pay-per-view event, and he says the price tag for the fight will be between $75 and $80. Ryan states that it’ll be the ‘best of both worlds’ for DAZN with them getting increased subscriptions and the pay-per-view money from the many boxing fans that will order the fight.
Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) would like to have the Tank Davis fight take place as soon as the coronavirus goes away. Unfortunately, no one knows when the pandemic will end. With that said, Ryan’s idea to charge boxing fans to see him and Tank fight on DAZN’s first-ever pay-per-view won’t be popular.
Boxing fans have become accustomed to being able to see fights on the streaming service for the price of their monthly/yearly subscription. For the fans to all of a sudden being asked to pay $80 to see Ryan Garcia vs. Tank Davison DAZN PPV, it won’t sit well with them. The timing would be terrible to ask fans to pay to see two young fighters, who both are still largely unproven.
Ryan Garcia targeting Gervonta fight for DAZN PPV
“Once they send the contract, I’m going to close my eyes and write my name down and sign it,” said Ryan to Fighthype on a clash between him and Tank Davis. “Everyone go to Gervonta’s page and tell him to send Ryan the contract now and stop playing. Stop bulls****. Send me the contract. I’ll sign it for everybody that is watching my story.
“They only see me as a pretty boy, and they got to stop doing that,” said King Ryan. “I was tired. At first, I was kind of flattered, but now I’m tired of that. I am good looking, thank you. But I also fight and I also talk s*** when you talk s***. If you talk s***, I talk s***. And if you’re respectful, I’m respectful. If you’re humble, I’m humble. When Romero was humbled, I was chilled. But if you talk s***, I’m going to talk s***.
“I got something for that,” said Ryan when asked how they’ll overcome the obstacle of him being on DAZN and unable to fight Tank on pay-per-view on Showtime. “What are they going to do when Conor McGregor fights? DAZN pay-per-view, baby. The first to do it. Everybody is going to want a touch of it. That’s going to make some big money.
“So let’s do $75, $80 pay-per-view on DAZN. It’s still pay-per-view, and it’s still DAZN, so let’s get it. First, you win with subscriptions, then you win with pay-per-view. And you have 2 of the best of both worlds. Don’t deny it. If you deny it, then you just f**** up the money. You ain’t never met anyone like me,” said Garcia.
Putting Tank Davis vs. Ryan Garcia wouldn’t be a popular move by DAZN even if the economy was going well, but with so many people out of work due to the virus, it’s poor timing for a PPV event. If DAZN does make this move, many users will likely jump overboard and cancel their service.
King Ryan expects to be compared to Ali
“Once I beat Gervonta Davis’ a**, that’s when they’ll give me credit,” said Ryan. “They’re not going to give me credit for beating [Jorge] Linares because he’s old, even though he’s a beast. He’s a beast, let’s be honest. There’s something missing with him. I just don’t know. I’ll find out when I fight him.
“I’ve watched all his fights, and I think he’s missing something. Once I beat him [Linares], I’ll have a little bit of hype going. But once I beat Gervonta Davis like I’ve been calling it, that’s going to be like history repeats itself with Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali, who was Cassius Clay at the time when he fought Sonny Liston. He got his respect. He was a loudmouth.
“Everyone was saying, ‘Muhammad Ali, is he all talk, is he all jibe?’ You remember all that. From the documentaries, that’s what they were saying. Now they’re saying that about me. I’m a f*** beast. I’m telling you. Once I beat Gervonta Davis’ a**, and I’m going to hand it to him. Maybe twice. I’m going to hand it to him twice just to make it clear, ‘He beat him.’
“They’re going to give me that respect then, and then I’m going to do it like Muhammad Ali and take it to a whole another level and start beating everyone’s a**. You know what I want to do? I want to go every month. And I don’t care who it is, just keep fighting every two months. I like to fight, but nowadays they want to create hype and s***. It’s going to be hype no matter what, you know what I mean?” said Garcia.
Ryan isn’t in the same league as Muhammad Ali was when he fought Sonny Liston for the first time in 1964. Moreover, Tank Davis isn’t viewed by fans in the same light as Liston was back in the 60s. Liston was a hard worker and was knocking everybody out before he met up with Ali.
Ryan hoping to face Tank next
“Nope, I never heard about him and never seen him,” said Garcia when asked if he ever heard of Tank Davis when he fought in the amateur ranks. “He looks like one of those kids from the East Coast that was fast as f*** but always got beat. That’s what he looks like.
“There were always these kids from the East coast that looked as good as f***, but they would always get beat. That’s what he looks like.
“It might just go to Gervonta Davis,” said Garcia. “I was scheduled for July but it might just go to Gervonta Davis. Now when we come back, I’m kind of leaning towards [Tank]. When we come back, boxing has to come back with a bang. ‘The first event since the coronavirus is Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis? Oh, f***.’ Everyone is worried about the politics.
“It’s not there with us. I’ve got my people in place to make that fight. It’s just a matter of time to make sure the money is there. If I can get that s*** written down, then my people are going to agree quickly. You can talk a lot, but can you write it down,” said Ryan.
Mayweather Promotions haven’t said anything about wanting to put the fight together between Tank and Ryan Garcia. They want it to build, and that can’t happen with the coronavirus having shutdown the sport of boxing. As a result, Ryan’s dream of fighting Tank Davis may need to wait until 2022 or later before it becomes a reality.
Gervonta Davis might run away – Ryan
“I’m sorry to say. This is another thing that me and my dad see in Gervonta,” said Ryan. “He’s a talented fighter, and he’s got OK skills. But there’s one thing that he wasn’t blessed with and that’s height. He’s never going to be able to touch me, and I don’t care about him on the inside.
“I’ve got some s*** for him too on the inside. He can try and come inside all day long, and he’s going to take a lot of s**** because I’m not the person that will miss. You’re not going to make me miss. Fonseca was out-boxing you, and you had to hit him on the back of the head with a desperate a** shot. If he gets desperate with me, I’m smacking him cold. Down goes Gervonta Davis and Tank is no more a Tank.
“He’s short as f*** and he doesn’t have the reach,” said Ryan about Tank Davis. “Whether you like it or not, he’s short as f***. He’s not going to be able to reach me while backing up. He needs me to fight Gervonta Davis and he knows Gervonta Davis will run away big time. When he sees all my skills, he’ll literally run away. I’m taking him down. I got some s*** for him,” said Garcia on Tank Davis.
It appears that Ryan is trying to anger Tank enough with his trash-talking that he’ll fight him. Is this a cash-out move on Ryan’s part in pushing for the Tank Davis fight so early in his career? It’s unknown.
By taking the fight now with Tank, Ryan will pick up a lot of new boxing fans, even if he loses. All Ryan needs to do is look courageous and put in a good performance, and he’ll still come out a winner even in defeat.
Tank’s problems outside the ring could hurt him
“I’m coming up with a lot of things from people to make this fight, even more, hyped,” Ryan said of Gervonta. “I’m chasing him down, and I’m going to get disrespectful with him as much as I can to make the right happen. I think he wants to cash out. He wants to make a lot of money. That’s what he’s focused on.
“He’s, ‘Oh, I’m going to get seven figures now.’ Kudos to you, and I’m going to beat your a** and get seven figures too and keep on making seven figures. You know what I mean? That’s how it’s going to go, and that’s the fight I’m focused on right now is Gervonta Davis. We need to make that happen.
“It’s all going to cost him,” said Garcia about Tank Davis’ problems outside of the ring. “That’s stress on the human body. He’s f***** big time, you know what I mean? It’s going to catch up to him when he fights me. I’m not a person that is going to lay down on him,” said Garcia.
Ryan can become a big-money player if he beats Tank Davis, but he’s got to do somehow. That’s not going to be easy. The only weapon Ryan has is his left hook that he throws all the time. If Tank takes that punch away, he could chop Ryan down. Tank does look a lot more rugged, and he’s the more experienced fighter of the two.
Tank, 25, is young and resilient, and he doesn’t appear to be stressing out or wearing down from his outside of the ring problems. For Tank, boxing is fun and it’s something he’s good at.
Garcia critical of Tank’s opposition
“All the fighters he fought, none of them are strong fighters,” said Garcia about Gervonta’s opposition. “They’re not even strong fighters. And they’re not even strong punchers. They just throw s***. I haven’t seen him fight one person that has any fighting chance. Have you seen him [Tank] fight anyone with power? I fought Romero Duno.
“The dude was knocking people out cold. Not just knockouts. He was sleeping people,” Ryan said of Duno. “And what were people saying? ‘Ryan is scared of him.’ I wasn’t scared of him. I told him what was going to happen, and I gave him 2 rounds. I’ve done that twice in a row now,” Garcia said of him knocking out his last two opponents in the first round.
“Can you imagine it happening three times in a row. I hope it doesn’t because then Gervonta might run away. That’s what I’m thinking. It’s either going to be straight to Gervonta this year because of the coronavirus or Linares and then Gervonta Davis.
“It might just be Gervonta Davis because if I have one more fight and one more explosive performance, he might run away like a b****, You hear me, Gervonta Davis because you’re a b****,” said Garcia.
Neither of these guys have fought really great opposition in the pro ranks. Ryan has recently increased the level of his competition in facing Francisco Fonseca and Romero Duno. Tank has beaten a number of good fighters that are a level above the fighters Ryan has fought.
