Gervonta Davis hailed Ryan Garcia as the “best” he’s fought – before revealing the extent to which he both outthought as well as outfought him.
Davis, 28, recorded the biggest victory of his career when at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena he dropped Garcia in the second round before stopping him in the seventh.
After the opening round in which the 24-year-old Garcia relished his advantages in height and reach, Davis increasingly read him and made adjustments, and to the extent what was expected to be competitive increasingly became a one-sided fight.
“I’d say he’s the best fighter,” Davis said when asked how Garcia compared to his previous opponents. “We was actually talking in there. It was fun while it lasted.
“[But] there was no shots that caught me that I felt like I was in trouble. I just stayed calm, and felt like he was more anxious than me. You have somebody [dangerous] like that you want to stay calm at all costs, ‘cause you don’t want to make a bad decision, and that’s what he did.
“He came in, and he was rushing, and walked right into a shot. So I knew, at the get-go, ‘I don’t wanna do that’. I wanted to stay calm; collected; stay humble. That’s what I was doing – picking my shots.
Davis was also asked about who he would next like to fight. Victory has potentially made him the world’s highest-profile lightweight, despite the fact that Devin Haney, who fights Vasyl Lomachenko next month, is the undisputed champion.
He will also be sentenced on May 5 having pleaded guilty to four counts stemming from a hit-and-run crash in November 2020.
“We gotta go back to the drawing board and see what’s the best decision [regarding my next opponent] for my career,” he said, before also discussing Floyd Mayweather being ringside to support him.
“I’m just going back to the drawing board with my team. We sit down, make a decision as a team. I can’t really say right now ‘cause I just fought. I'ma try to rest, and hopefully we’ll come up with a good game plan in the next couple of months.
“I always like to listen to Floyd when it comes to big stages like this. He’s the only one that’s been in my shoes and in these type of fights. I wish I could stay close to Floyd when stuff like this happens, just to keep me humble, and help me on the right track.
