Ryan Garcia has several fights he can pursue. However, there’s one that appears to have shut its doors for him preemptively, and that door belongs to Keyshawn Davis. This comes after the Victorville native returned to the winning column by defeating Mario Barrios to become the WBC welterweight champion last month. But the question remains: Why is Davis against the fight? 

“He got a lot of speculation about his name right now,” Keyshawn Davis told Ring Champs with Ak & Barak. “I’m not f—ing with Ryan Garcia. I just want things to be normal. 

Davis, who will have to move up in weight to face Garcia, is coming off a 12th-round TKO win over Jamaine Ortiz at super lightweight. The fight was his debut in the weight class, having been stripped of the WBO lightweight belt after coming in overweight for a now-cancelled fight against Edwin De Los Santos last year. Regardless, when asked about what he thought about Garcia’s last performance, Davis appeared impressed. Yet, he isn’t afraid to speak the truth!

“I ain’t scared to talk about it,” Davis added during the podcast. “I fought somebody on steroids, and that joint ain’t cool. You know what I’m saying? So I’m not saying he’s on that, but it’s just speculation, and I’m not trying to be a part of that.”

Ryan Garcia tested positive for Ostarine, a selective androgen receptor modulator, or SARMs, during his April 2024 fight against rival Devin Haney. Even though ‘King Ry’ won the bout via majority decision, his positive test resulted in the fight being overturned into a no-contest. Still, Garcia has maintained that he didn’t intentionally take any prohibited substance.

Since the test, Garcia lost to Rolando Romero in May 2025 and bounced back with a win over Barrios recently. However, coming back to Keyshawn Davis, there could be another reason ‘The Businessman’ doesn’t want the smoke with Garcia. Shakur Stevenson, who is a close friend of Davis, is in conversation to face Garcia in the welterweight division. 

The Victorville native even called out Shakur Stevenson after his last win, but a disagreement over a rehydration clause appears to have stalled the fight for now. Garcia also has the option to face WBO welterweight champion Devin Haney in a long-overdue unification rematch. However, it remains unclear which direction the rivals plan to take.

Regardless, while Davis doesn’t want to risk fighting a drugged-up Garcia, he is not against moving up in weight to fight the division’s other champion. 

If not Ryan Garcia, then who? 

Guess what! Keyshawn Davis has more than one name on his radar if he decides to make the jump to welterweight. With one eye on a potential showdown with Devin Haney, Davis recently revealed he would also welcome a fight with IBF welterweight champion Lewis Crocker.

After his win over Ortiz, the unbeaten contender said he would even travel overseas to challenge Crocker in his home country.

“Me and Eddie Hearn was having a conversation also about Lewis Crocker,” Davis said. “I would love to go to the UK and fight him in the UK, main event, of course. And I would love to fight Lewis Crocker as well. So, it’s not just for Devin Haney. But he is on my hit list.”

Crocker won the vacant IBF welterweight title with a split-decision victory over Paddy Donovan in Belfast last September. And if he remains at super lightweight, Davis mentioned WBC junior welterweight champion Dalton Smith as a potential opponent.

The gist of the story is that Ryan Garcia is not landing Keyshawn Davis as an opponent. But he never really needed ‘The Businessman’ to begin with. So, only time will tell who will be Garcia’s next dance partner?