Gervonta “Tank” Davis clashed with Bernard Hopkins after he and Ryan Garcia weighed in for Saturday night’s fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Both fighters had come in comfortably under the 136lbs catchweight when they faced off on stage, outside the T-Mobile, surrounded by their respective teams.
As they exchanged words Bernard Hopkins, of Garcia’s promoters GoldenBoy and a master of mind games while he remained active, moved to stand alongside Davis and, as with Garcia, Hopkins and Davis started exchanging words.
The 135.1lbs Davis became increasingly heated and turned back to Garcia, who had weighed 135.5lbs, shoved him, was shoved in return, and then found himself in the centre of what threatened to become a melee until the rivals and rival camps were separated.
“He’s talking about he’s ‘About that life,’ man, nobody’s worried about his old ass,” Davis, 28, said of Hopkins. “He needs to sit back and let the young’uns do it.
“It makes me excited about putting on a performance in front of the beautiful fans – getting the job done.
Garcia, 24 and who had moved up from lightweight after defeating Luke Campbell in January 2021, had previously showed signs of struggling with the weight, but he said: “Him and Bernard started getting into it and then it just became something crazy. I was focused. I’m staying focused. I’m ready to do my job.
A rehydration clause means that on Saturday morning they can weigh no more than 146lbs.