Fighting Gervonta "Tank" Davis is a tough enough challenge. Going up against the undefeated three-weight world champion while having a mole in your training camp is a virtually guaranteed way to lose.
That's what Ryan Garcia says happened to him in the lead-up to his hugely anticipated bout with Davis over the weekend.
Garcia, who was also undefeated before stepping into the ring with Davis on Saturday night in Las Vegas, took to social media to seemingly confirm the rumours that he had a mole in his camp as he prepared for the biggest fight of his career.
“Actually sad I had a mole in my camp,” Garcia wrote on an Instagram story. “Like WTF that’s crazy but thank God it’s brought to light now.”
Garcia then wrote a follow-up post, dismissing the notion that the presence of a mole was the reason he lost.
“Also didn’t mean that to come off as an excuse of anything," he wrote. "I lost period. I’ll come back but I’m just shocked that part of my team crossed me, someone close to me. Unbelievable. But it's a testimony that you must be aware of anyone.”
Garcia took a knee in the seventh round on Saturday after Davis delivered a devastating body shot that ultimately ended the fight. Two weeks prior to their showdown, Davis told reporters that he had become aware of a body injury to Garcia, stating coyly that "word gets around."
Amid chatter of who the potential mole could be, boxing reporter Michael Benson tweeted a video of Garcia's sparring partner, Mongolian fighter Erdenebat Tsendbaatar, apologising for injuring the 24-year-old with a body shot.
While Tsendbaatar didn't confirm that he fed the information about Garcia's possible injury to Davis' camp, the timing of the video and Garcia's social posts has led to great speculation among boxing fans online.