VIDEO: When Oscar De La Hoya Doubted Ryan Garcia and Called Gervonta Davis ‘A Beast’

Published 01/15/2021, 4:30 AM EST

Oscar De La Hoya hesitated to line up Ryan Garcia opposite Gervonta Davis three years back as he felt Garcia wasn’t ready to face his power. Both Davis and Garcia were successful, but the former was a world champion whilst the latter was still ascending to the top. Hence, the Golden Boy CEO hesitated to put his undefeated top-prodigy against Gervonta Davis.

In 2018, a media person asked De La Hoya whether Garcia was ready to encounter ‘Tank’. In response, De La Hoya said a clear ‘No’ before billing Gervonta Davis as ‘beast’.

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Things have drastically changed over the last three years. Garcia has found his way to the top and is the undefeated WBC Interim lightweight champion now. Gervonta Davis has also expanded his reign and has added the WBA lightweight title to his WBA super featherweight title.

Following Ryan Garcia’s TKO win over Luke Campbell on January 2, he desired to fight Gervonta Davis, who defeated Leo Santa Cruz via KO in October 2020. Garcia, 21-0 (18 KOs) and Davis 24-0 (23 KOs) have agreed to lock horns verbally.

That said, Oscar De La Hoya has also changed his outlook over the fight and isn’t hesitating in booking ‘KingRy’ against ‘Tank’. Instead, he believes Garcia would ‘walk through’ Davis at this stage.

A few days back, he connected with DAZN and said, “I would love the Tank fight. I think Ryan Garcia walks through the Tank and if you were to ask me three years ago, I would have kind of maybe questioned it but now, Ryan Garcia is the fighter that is improving, the fighter who is growing, the fighter getting stronger, and faster.”

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Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia- Where does it put the lightweight roster?

Four unbeaten lightweight champions haven’t fought each other, and it has chunked the entire 135 lbs journey. If Davis vs Garcia happens, it would also plant the seed for Teofimo Lopez vs Devin Haney.

While WBC champion Devin Haney has already called out unified champion Teofimo Lopez, the 135 lbs roster can possibly see some shift in its titles soon. Meanwhile, Davis vs Garcia would also determine the better champion between them. Moreover, the winners of both the fights can finally fight each other to settle the best amongst all in the active run.

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Do you think Ryan Garcia can exceed Gervonta Davis in the lightweight title picture?

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Written by:

A senior boxing writer at EssentiallySports, Raj Sarkar is a mass media graduate who is currently pursuing his master’s degree in broadcast journalism. In addition to his current role, he has worked with the MMA team at EssentiallySports and has interviewed prominent fighters such as Ritu Phogat and 'The Red King' Rory MacDonald. He combined his bachelor's degree with his adoration for combat sports and has a combined 2000 plus bylines in MMA and boxing over the last two years.

VIDEO: When Oscar De La Hoya Doubted Ryan Garcia and Called Gervonta Davis ‘A Beast’

Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia- Where does it put the lightweight roster?

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