LAS VEGAS – Ryan Garcia regrets that he wasn’t disciplined enough Saturday night to give himself a better chance to beat Gervonta Davis.
His haste cost him versus Davis, who capitalized on Garcia’s mistakes and ultimately knocked him out with a well-placed left hand to Garcia’s body during the seventh round of their 12-round, 136-pound fight at T-Mobile Arena. If Garcia would’ve worked off his jab and kept Davis at a distance, rather than recklessly attacking at times, he believes the biggest fight of his career would’ve unfolded differently.
Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) credited the undefeated Davis for his performance, but he thinks future opponents could have more success against Davis if they stick to their game plans.
“You know, I think my problem was I got a little too impatient,” Garcia said during his post-fight press conference. “And Davis was good. I think he does struggle with activity. I know he caught me with a good shot. But I think that somebody that is just a little bit more disciplined than me and has a little bit more activity can give him a lotta problems.
“But, you know, you can’t count him out because he has great power. So, you just gotta be careful with Gervonta and play it smart. I didn’t play it smart. I started getting bored in there and I just started trying to press and I ended up getting knocked out. So, that was my mistake.”
The 28-year-old Davis’ experience in higher-profile fights also worked to the powerful southpaw’s advantage, according to Garcia.
“I just wanted to make the fight a little bit more exciting,” Garcia said. “Again, that’s my inexperience, I guess, at the biggest stage. I definitely messed up. I shoulda just made it boring, made him miss and just kept on the outside. But at one point I just decided to say, ‘Let’s start throwing ‘em,’ and obviously that didn’t work in my favor.”
Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) caught Garcia with a counter left in an exchange that dropped Garcia to the seat of his trunks with 1:01 on the clock in the second round. Garcia got up quickly from that knockdown, but he was unable to answer referee Thomas Taylor’s count after Davis’ abovementioned body blow forced him to take a knee with 1:30 to go in the seventh round.
“It took the air out of me,” Garcia said. “I just couldn’t get up, couldn’t recover and that was that – simple.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.