Ryan Garcia is confident he will defeat Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis if they do meet in April and dismissed recent criticism as mind games.
Tank beat Hector Luis Garcia with an impressive display last weekend, with his Mexican opponent having to retire on his stool after losing vision, such was the strength of his unbeaten American opponent.
He had taken the fight to stay sharp ahead of a clash with Ryan Garcia, with the pair both seemingly expecting to meet on April 15.
Speaking to The MMA Hour, Ryan Garcia explained why he did not take an interim bout of his own.
“So all these things I’ve had to do, and I was just like, ‘You know what? I’m not going to fight again,’” Garcia said. “I’m not going to go have something out of the blue happen to me, and I’m going to go straight to Tank. If I truly believe I’ll beat him, I’ll always believe I’ll beat him.”
He also thought Tank was risking an injury that could cost the pair what is likely to be one of the biggest fights of the year.
“I was like, ‘Man, this is kind of risky.’ It’s not the fact that he could lose – he could hurt his hand. Things could just happen getting ready for a fight," Garcia added.
“To me, it’s too risky, but he wanted to do his thing, he had a great performance, and hopefully nothing happens between now and April.”
Garcia also suggested that recent sledging from Davis was a way to scare him away from the fight.
“I think they were trying to give me ways to say, ‘F this, I’m not going through all this,’ especially with the weight, with the changing of dates, trying to prolong my inactivity,” he stated.
“All this stuff, it’s just a game, saying I’m on steroids, I see all the tricks. But they don’t know who they’re messing with. My mentality is strong, whether they believe it or not.”