Former welterweight titlist “Showtime” Shawn Porter says he is having a hard time deciding who will win Saturday night’s matchup with Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, but he does think that Davis’ 140-pound title winning effort against Mario Barrios in June 2021 showed that he might struggle against Garcia’s height and reach.
Because Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) tends to start slow as he sizes up his opponent, the consensus opinion is that Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) needs to take advantage and rack up some early rounds, and that is a sentiment with which Porter, who now hosts his own podcast, “The Porter Way,” concurs.
“I do agree that Ryan should start fast, and I think that Ryan should start fast with no intention of turning it down or turning it back. I think that if he starts fast, keeps himself on his front foot and keeps Tank on his back foot – Tank is a really good counter puncher by the way, but to take the counter punch away from him– would be a really good move for Ryan.”
Porter agrees that Davis is the more fundamentally-sound fighter, although he expects Garcia’s trainer Joe Goossen to patch many of his boxer’s technical holes; even so, he says he finds himself wavering in his prediction.
“My first thought is Tank wins this fight, and then my second thought is well, Ryan's special. I don't know man; I told my guys on the podcast, I feel like I suck and every fight is 50-50 in my mind. Like, am I losing it? Do I not know how to determine who's gonna win a fight? But this one is really hard. Because both guys have that killer punch. Of course, we've seen that Tank has more killer instinct. But again, that's what nights are for. When somebody overlooks that you're special, and you just come out there and prove that you are.”
