28 April 2023 , 15:30
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Those who said Ryan Garcia quit have never taken a punch. Anyone who has fought at the highest level will know that the kind of body shot thrown by Gervonta Davis in Las Vegas is almost impossible to defend.
Garcia was down in second round to a backhand. He was on top of Davis and got nailed with a short left. It happens and he recovered from that. The shot that ended the fight in the seventh was a short left into the ribcage. It hit him in the floating ribs. There is no protection there.
That was my thing. I became an expert at that. A left to the head would raise the opponent’s hands creating a gap of about four inches. I would then crash a shot through that gap and they would cave. You need three minutes to recover from a punch like that not ten seconds.
I remember fighting Belgian Angelo Licata at the Ulster Hall in my tenth fight. He was very good, more experienced and bigger than me. I was worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew. In the second round I threw a left, he put his hands up and I buried a left hook into his body.
He dropped to his knees for a second then began reeling all over the floor. The fight was over. He didn’t quit either. That was 40 years ago. The game hasn’t changed. Garcia is tall and skinny and vulnerable to body shots. He was in the fight and doing well. But at lightweight Tank wipes everybody out.
Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia fight officially announced for April in Las Vegas
Maybe Shakur Stevenson would cope, but I wouldn’t give Devin Haney or Vasyl Lomachenko much of a chance. I don’t think I have seen a guy like Davis in the lighter divisions with that kind of power.
Barry McGuigan predicted a Gervonta Davis win last week (Getty Images)Tank is an exceptional fighter but he fought Garcia on his terms. Garcia came down from 140 pounds to a catchweight 136, with a rehydration clause that suited Davis. Garcia was fried at the weight, but he didn’t take a sustained beating. I would argue he suffered more when Luke Campbell knocked him down. It’s all experience.
I said in this column last week that there would be only one winner and the fight would not go 12 rounds. So it was no surprise to me to see Tank prevail in the manner he did.
Garcia still has a huge future ahead of him because he is a huge talent and, at 24, still a baby. He just needs to regroup at 140 and might even campaign at welterweight as he gets older.
- Follow Barry on Twitter at @ClonesCyclone @McGuigans_Gym