A friendly online session paved the way for a winner-takes-all scenario in the biggest fight on the boxing calendar.
Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Ryan Garcia kicked off fight week by publicly agreeing to a high stakes wager ahead of this weekend’s Showtime Pay-Per-View headliner. Baltimore’s Davis was a scheduled guest on live streamer Kai Cenat’s Instagram Live on Monday evening, where he was eventually joined by Garcia. The two agreed on air to put their entire fight purse at stake for their upcoming scheduled 12-round clash from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Yo, you wanna bet,” Davis asked Garcia, who confirmed that he was willing to push all his chips into the pot.
“Let’s do it. I’m down,” Garcia agreed. “The whole thing. The whole purse.”
Davis immediately contacted his team to memorialize the agreement.
“Have Al [Haymon, Davis’s adviser] write up the contract,” Davis insisted to an undisclosed team member. “Whoever win get the other fighter’s purse. I’m dead serious. We on the Live right now. We’re betting the whole purse.”
Davis (28-0, 26KOs) and Garcia (23-0, 19KOs) will meet this Saturday at a contracted 136-pound maximum weight limit. The super fight will mark the sixth straight Showtime PPV main event for Davis, while the 24-year-old Garcia fights in his first headliner in this medium. The pair of unbeaten rising stars are among the most popular figures in the sport and whose names ring out among content providers.
Cenat is an award-winning streamer. The 21-year-old from The Bronx was named Streamer of the Year during the Dick Clark Productions-presented 12th annual Streamy Awards last December and won a similar honor during the 2023 Streamer Awards on March 11. He holds the mark for the most followers on Twitch but was banned from the live streaming service for undisclosed reasons on Monday.
The banishment came hours before his scheduled session with Davis on Instagram, where Cenat boasts more than 3,800,00 followers. Davis—who has more than 4.6 million followers on the platform—was cool and calm throughout the hour-long Live session, mostly enjoying the light-hearted affair while Cenat sampled different foods.
The feed spiked in popularity when Cenat was joined by fellow streamer Adin Ross (nearly 6,000,000 Instagram followers), a fellow streamer and close friend of Davis. Ross successfully goaded Cenat into placing a bet on Saturday’s fight. Cenat admitted that he doesn’t gamble but was convinced by Davis to place a healthy five-figure wager on the event upon seeking the boxer’s counsel.
Davis then had Ross ask Garcia—who hadn’t yet joined the Live—via text if he was willing to put his entire fight purse against Davis’ on the outcome of their non-title fight this weekend. Garcia—who boasts a massive 9.5 million IG followers—was eventually brought into the session, where he immediately agreed to the terms.
“So, you want me to call Al and (put) it in the contract,” Davis asked in seeking absolute confirmation before contacting his team.
“Let’s go. Let’s make the contract, both of us. Let’s do it—If you really want to do it.”
Cenat and Ross both confirmed they will attend the fight on Saturday. Ross announced during the session—which topped out at more than 200,000 live views—that he will livestream elements of Saturday’s show from ringside. They agreed to bring cash and will settle their bet on site.
It is highly doubtful that Davis and Garcia will be permitted to proceed with their wager, never mind have it documented in a contract and filed with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Nevertheless, it is the type of out-of-box promotion that has been met with this event, which has already resonated with all adult generations.
Davis’s secondary WBA lightweight title is not at stake since the fight is above the divisional limit.
The 28-year-old southpaw is coming off a stoppage win of previously unbeaten Hector Garcia (16-1, 10KOs; 3NC) after the eighth round of their January 7 Showtime PPV headliner from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The event generated a venue record-breaking live gate of $5,198,950, further cementing Davis’ status as the biggest box-office attraction among active American boxers.
Garcia last fought in a sixth-round knockout of Javier Fortuna on July 16 in Los Angeles. The Victorville, California opted out of a planned January 28 stay-busy fight versus Mercito Gesta, as he preferred to head straight into the more meaningful fight versus Davis.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox