Former world champion Barry McGuigan rejects the notion that ‘Ryan Garcia’ quit last Saturday night, when he was knocked out by Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Davis dropped Garcia in the second round with a counter hook, and then finished the fight when he landed a crushing body shot in the seventh.
Garcia went down to a knee, on a delayed reaction, and stayed down for the full count as the referee reached ten.
In the aftermath, many fans and numerous boxers accused Garcia of calling it quits after going down for a second time.
“Those who said Ryan Garcia quit have never taken a punch. Anyone who has fought at the highest level will know that the kind of body shot thrown by Gervonta Davis in Las Vegas is almost impossible to defend,” McGuigan told The Mirror.
“Garcia was down in second round to a backhand. He was on top of Davis and got nailed with a short left. It happens and he recovered from that. The shot that ended the fight in the seventh was a short left into the ribcage. It hit him in the floating ribs. There is no protection there.
“That was my thing. I became an expert at that. A left to the head would raise the opponent’s hands creating a gap of about four inches. I would then crash a shot through that gap and they would cave. You need three minutes to recover from a punch like that not ten seconds.”
McGuigan views Davis as the top guy at the lightweight limit of 135-pounds.
He believes unbeaten two-division champion Shakur Stevenson might be the only fighter to hang with Tank but gives no shot to undisputed champion Devin Haney and three division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko – who collide against each other on May 20.
“At lightweight Tank wipes everybody out,” McGuigan said. “Maybe Shakur Stevenson would cope, but I wouldn’t give Devin Haney or Vasyl Lomachenko much of a chance. I don’t think I have seen a guy like Davis in the lighter divisions with that kind of power.”