NEW YORK – Ryan Garcia revealed during their press conference Wednesday afternoon that there is a rehydration clause in his contract for his showdown with Gervonta Davis.
Garcia informed BoxingScene.com afterward that he cannot weigh more than 146 pounds, 10 more than their contracted catch weight of 136, when he enters the ring for his 12-round fight versus Davis the night of April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The 5-foot-10 Garcia agreed to drop back down near the lightweight limit of 135 pounds to face Davis after weighing in at the junior welterweight maximum of 140 pounds prior to his last fight.
Though he mentioned the rehydration clause as a concession during their press conference at Palladium Times Square, Garcia doesn’t believe the cap on his weight will hinder him on fight night.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem,” Garcia told a small group of reporters, “because I don’t like to gain that much weight anyways after the weigh-ins. I pretty much walk around in the ring at 148, so 146 won’t be too much different.”
Baltimore’s Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) also has fought at the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds. Each of the 5-foot-6 Davis’ past three fights have been contested within the lightweight division, however, and his handlers got Garcia to come down in weight while negotiating details of their contracts for this Showtime Pay-Per-View main event.
Oscar De La Hoya, whose company promotes Garcia, downplayed the rehydration clause Wednesday.
“No concern whatsoever,” De La Hoya said. “Both fighters are professionals. Both fighters have been waiting for this fight for a long time, and so the fact that they’ve already been training, the weight is down on Ryan Garcia, on Tank Davis. They’re professionals, so there’s no issue whatsoever. It’s sometimes standard to have some kind of clause like that in the contract, but we strongly feel that both fighters will have no issue whatsoever.”
Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs), of Victorville, California, hasn’t had to drop this low in weight in more than two years. He officially weighed 135 pounds for his seventh-round stoppage of British southpaw Luke Campbell (20-4, 16 KOs) in January 2021 at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Before he weighed in at 140 pounds for his sixth-round knockout of Dominican southpaw Javier Fortuna (37-4-1, 26 KOs, 2 NC) last July 16 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Garcia came in at 138¾ pounds for his 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat of Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe (32-2, 15 KOs) last April 9 at Alamodome in San Antonio.
Davis, 28, and Garcia, 24, will participate in another press conference Thursday at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. It will be streamed live on Showtime Sports’ YouTube channel (4 p.m. ET; 1 p.m. PT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.