Ryan Garcia’s seventh-round KO loss to Gervonta Davis this past Saturday continues to make waves throughout the online Universo Pugilistico. Notably, there’s been the debate over whether Garcia “quit” or not in taking the full ten count following Davis’ thudding body shot that sent him down to a knee.
“Honestly, I’m not surprised,” former two-division world champ Danny Garcia told reporters.
“The question for me was, when it got hot for Ryan, would he dig deep or would he give in…and he gave in.”
Another two-division former world champ, Paulie Malignaggi, was equally as harsh on “King” Ryan and his intestinal fortitude.
“Ryan was out of answers,” Malignaggi wrote via Twitter. “Hurt from the body shot, but he could’ve gotten up. He was out of answers and he knew that getting up it was just gonna get worse.”
The legendary Mexican star Julio Cesar Chavez, who was covering the fight live for Mexican TV, also blasted Garcia for a perceived lack of toughness in not getting back to his feet until right after the 10 count.
After originally doubting the force of the shot that felled Garcia, Chavez then heaped praise on Davis while speaking of Garcia dismissively. When Chavez’s broadcast colleague said that he’d like to see more of Garcia in the ring as he develops, Chavez sneered, “Watch him yourself because I won’t be watching him again!”
Other fighters have jumped to Garcia’s defense, notably former world champ Oscar Valdez and current WBC junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis, talking about just what a well-placed body shot does to the body. They say that what happened Saturday night was more a case of Garcia being stopped than him quitting.
The “did he quit” debate rages on and will probably continue to rage on for as long as fans are discussing the fight. The reality, though, is that Garcia did lose and he lost decisively to Gervonta Davis. He was out-fought, out-thought, and out-strategized, clearly showing himself a level below Davis and, honestly, in need of some serious fine-tuning in various aspects of his game.
Bernard Hopkins, minority partner in Garcia’s promotional representative Golden Boy Promotions, recently offered some insight into how the 24-year-old could fix the flaws that, ultimately, led to defeat last Saturday.
“He still has to work on his defense, which needs to be tighter,” Hopkins told Fighthype.com.
“I’d like to see Ryan fight at a weight he’s comfortable at without giving up anything to make [a fight happen] from now on. That’s a super fight or any other fight.
“It might not be that easy, and he might not be able to achieve that. I see what other people see. His defense has to be tight, and it’s not in his best interest to fight with his head up, leaving himself exposed.
“Those things cost him for this big moment [against Gervonta Davis], and they’ll cost him later. He’s still obviously young enough to come back. He still has fire in his belly.
“He was apologizing to everybody, and we let him know that he didn’t have to apologize to us. You know what you got to do. Are we with you? I am. Golden Boy is with you as well.
“I believe he has what it takes to put this behind him and become great one day. You’re not great now, so let’s work towards being that,” said Hopkins.
Garcia announced after the defeat that he’d be moving up to junior welterweight. But, as Hopkins intimated, without making some changes, his shortcomings will follow him wherever he goes.
