Ryan Garcia has revealed new wrinkles into his first professional loss.
In April, Garcia suffered a seventh-round knockout defeat to Gervonta Davis.
“For the first time ever, in the back room, I said to myself ‘I’m losing this fight.’ I knew, right in the back room,” Garcia said this week on a podcast with Valuetainment founder Patrick Bet-David. “Nothing is going right. I am so weak. None of my punches are coming off sharp. I’m going to lose this fight. I just said [to myself] ‘how am I going to lose this fight?’ This is going to be crazy … The moment I caught him in the second round I tried to knock him out. I said, ‘I’m so weak I have to try and end it early’ … he recovers and then he drops me.”
Garcia suffered a knockdown in the second round due to a counter left hook delivered by Davis and his night was over after succumbing to a body shot in the seventh.
Garcia later revealed that he had a lingering rib injury heading his highly lucrative 136-pound catchweight clash.
“I’m going to get everything back in blood. I will never let anyone play me like that in negotiations ever again. That will never happen – ever,” said Garcia. “I’m going to get so big that Gervonta has to fight me [again]. And we’re going to do it on the right and fair terms … we’re going to do it right and I’m going to beat him … even though he did me dirty and they did all these tricks, I’m going to do everything fair. Not a rehydration clause. I’m not going to make him go crazy up in weight. We do it at 140 or 147, whatever he wants … you’re never going to play me again. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times, f— the peace sign, I’m going to let the chopper rain on you. I’m coming back for everything. I’m coming back in blood … I’m not f—— around – f— around and find out.”
The 25-year-old Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) rebounded from his loss to Davis by scoring an eighth-round knockout of Oscar Duarte in December.
The super lightweight contender Garcia is currently in negotiations for a fight against 140-pound WBC champion Devin Haney.
Garcia offered an update on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.
“Things are moving forward, Devin Haney. Just hit Oscar [De La Hoya]. He will talk to Bill [Haney] later on today. We will get this done,” said Garcia.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.