Ryan Garcia said recently that he carried an injury into the ring when he fought Gervonta Davis in one of the year's mega matches.
“I did go in the ring with a rib injury, a separated rib from sparring,” Garcia said on The Last Stand podcast.
The Californian dropped the first defeat of his career to Davis, falling in the seventh round because of a shot to the body, yet reaped significant financial reward as the contest generated $20 million at the gate and 1.2 million buys at the box office.
"I was dehydrated, and it was like one of the first shots of sparring. I didn’t even get hit hard. My rib just [sunk] in and I had to go to the hospital, spent there some time, and I couldn’t even run. I couldn’t do anything.
"It was about two weeks before the fight," Garcia said. "There was nothing that I could do. I decided that I wasn’t gonna pull out. Too much time [had] been put into this and too much things went into making this fight happen. I wasn’t gonna pull out."
Garcia said the catchweight agreement he agreed with Davis — 136-pounds — worked against him, and ultimately impacted his performance in training and the fight itself. "On top of [the rib injury], I had to cut the weight, so I had everything stacked against me."
He continued: "In Vegas, it finally felt like boxing was back on fire for a day, for a night. Finally, we get to feel that excitement before that bell rings once again, like a [Floyd] Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya fight or a Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquiao. That excitement, and that’s what I always wanted to bring to the sport."
Garcia added that, now he has "life-changing money" for his family, now that he's a "superstar," and "made a bunch of money," he has a new ambition — "I wanne be one of the best in the sport."
He said: "I wanna be the best in the sport and get a title."
To do that, he must dispose of Oscar Duarte in Houston on Saturday.
The Garcia vs. Duarte bout headlines a Golden Boy Promotions card that airs on DAZN.
