Ryan Garcia agreed to a 136-pound catchweight clash against Gervonta Davis in April. The contract also called for a rehydration clause at a maximum of 10 pounds for the next-day morning weigh-in.
Garcia ultimately suffered a seventh-round knockout loss and admitted afterward that he was weak and weight-drained and that it was a decision he had to live with because the weight consolation was required in order to make the deal go through.
Garcia collected a paycheck of around $30 million, and now, he’s ready to return to the ring to take on Oscar Duarte (26-1-1, 21 KOs) on Dec. 2 in a 140-pound comeback fight at the Toyota Center in Houston on DAZN.
The 25-year-old Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) still wants to have another dance with Davis, although this time on more favorable terms.
“[Davis] will never fight me at 140. This guy will never fight anybody at a fair thing. He just won’t. He won’t chance it. He really doesn’t have that dog in him. He doesn’t have that spirit of an old-school fighter. But I don’t care,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com in an interview.
“We didn’t really run it. That wasn’t really a fight. It was a half-a-man versus a dude that, even when he dropped me, he really didn’t want to engage either, to be honest.”
Garcia was dropped in the second round with a counter left hand and in the seventh with a body shot.
Garcia’s previous two fights before Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) were contested at the super lightweight limit, while Davis had three fights in a row at 135 pounds before Garcia. Davis also has had a fight at 140 pounds in 2021 against Mario Barrios, but he considers himself to solely be a lightweight fighter.
“I plan on going on a run like I did prior to 2020 when I was just killing it,” said Garcia.
“I’m going to do it again but at 140 and then become a champion. And then run it back with Gervonta Davis because I’m a better fighter. That wasn’t me. I wasn’t committed to the sport the way I am now. I was in Los Angeles doing whatever I wanted. This change and where I am at life is who I am. That’s my main focus – to be a world champion at 140, get the rematch with Tank and beat him, and then the sky is the limit.”
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.