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According to the general consensus, Ryan Garcia's upcoming battle with Gervonta Davis will be the most challenging test of his six-year professional career.
Garcia did, however, warn those who have overlooked his most notable victory—a seventh-round knockout of Luke Campbell two years ago—to remember that his highly anticipated matchup with Davis might end up being a simpler contest. Campbell of England is a southpaw like Davis, but at 5-foot-9, he's taller and rangier and will present different difficulties than Davis, who is 5-foot-6, these two stars meet on April 22 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“You know, Luke Campbell, you gotta understand that it causes different problems,” Garcia told a small group of reporters after a press conference Wednesday at Palladium Times Square. “He’s a taller fighter. His shots will hit me at a different range. [Davis] has to really come up and hit me.
“It’s much different. It’s a much different fight. So, you never know – this one may be easier. You just don’t know. Yes, at face value he’s the tougher fighter, you know, on paper. But you just don’t know. You just don’t know.”
Compared to Campbell, Davis, who is 28 years old, punches much harder.
The Baltimore native has defeated 93% of his competitive opponents by knockout. (28-0, 26 KOs). Campbell, a retired Olympic gold medalist from London 2012, ended his career with a 67 percent knockout rate. (20-4, 16 KOs).
At the halfway point of the second round of their fight in January 2021 at the Dallas American Airlines Center, Campbell floored Garcia with a long-range left hand. Garcia immediately stood back up, bounced back, and in the seventh round, stopped Campbell with a left hook to the body to claim the WBC interim lightweight championship.
Garcia, 24, has only fought twice since defeating Campbell (23-0, 19 KOs), but with Davis on his calendar for this year, he made sure to face a southpaw in his most recent contest. The Dominican veteran Javier Fortuna (37-4-1, 26 KOs, 2 NC) was knocked out on July 16 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles by the Victorville, California resident once in each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds.
Two of Garcia’s past three fights have come against left-handed opponents, including the Campbell bout.
“I did that on purpose,” Garcia said, “just so I could have, you know, more of a feel for a southpaw, where the punches are coming. And, you know, everything was preparation for this big fight.”