A big fight has finally been made. In fact, this fight is probably the biggest commercial fight to make in boxing today if not the best in-ring product, a distinction I would reserve for Fulton v Inoue or possibly Fury v Usyk.
All indications are that Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis will meet on April 15, presumably in Las Vegas, at a catchweight of 136 pounds.
This is not a Mayweather v Pacquaio in two senses. Firstly, neither combatant is as historically consequential as either Mayweather or Pacquaio. Secondly, thankfully, they are both square in their prime. Davis is 28 and Garcia is 24.
There are no notable weight issues. Davis is a small 135 pounder who hits like a Ford Raptor. Garcia is a bigger man who fought his last fight at 140 pounds and the fight before that at 139, meaning his last fight at the 135 pound limit was his career highlight against Luke Campbell in 2021. Meeting at 136 would, therefore, seem to favour Davis on its face, but Garcia is a young man who insists he can make 136 comfortably and will surely insist on being able to rehydrate as much as possible.
The point that I’m getting at is that there’s nothing wrong with this fight in the ring. All systems should be ready and raring to go.
But what if they aren’t?
Outside the ring, Davis has shown himself time and again to be a bad person.
Davis has twice been accused and charged with acts of violence against women. In one incident in February 2020, video emerged of him grabbing a woman by the throat and dragging her to a more private place where he allegedly continued the assault. Additionally, just before his most recent victory against Hector Garcia he was arrested and charged with battery domestic violence. His accuser has since recanted this particular accusation but, given Davis’ history and my background in family law, this rescission holds very little weight in my view.
He does not confine his out of ring violence to women, however. In 2017 and 2018 he was arrested twice for assaults on men.
The issue that could hamstring this fight, though, is a separate one entirely. In 2021 he ran a red light and struck another car, sending its four occupants to hospital, one of whom was a pregnant woman. The pregnant woman that was catapulted from the car said in her court testimony that she “begged” Davis for help, but he ignored her pleas and left. Prosecutors and Davis’ defence team came to an agreement on a plea deal that was ultimately rejected by the court largely on the basis of the power of the victim’s testimony. Davis is therefore due to stand trial in March 2022 on 14 counts that surround this hit and run. If he is sent to prison that will obviously impact the fight.
While Davis appears to have left Mayweather Promotions and the PBC, he should probably get on the phone with his old friend Floyd Mayweather and seek some advice. On May 5, 2012 Mayweather fought Miguel Cotto to win a clear unanimous decision. Curiously, in January of 2012 Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in prison following a violent attack on his ex-partner in full view of their children. The court allowed Mayweather to go ahead with the fight before he served his jail time, with Mayweather’s attorneys petitioning the Nevada court to postpone the jail time on the basis that a Mayweather fight is big business for Las Vegas.
The judge allowed this petition.
The situation for Davis is obviously different, however, given that Davis will stand trial in Maryland, and I would put my life on Davis v Garcia taking place in somewhere that is not Maryland. Davis’ best chance of being able to go ahead with the fight is to ensure that a contract is signed before he stands trial. If his team is able to deliver this then, if he is ultimately found guilty and sentenced to jail time, he may be able to postpone the time he has to serve until after the fight on the basis that he has contractual obligations to fulfil.
So, what does this tell us about the fight?
It tells us that we have a familiar dynamic playing out in boxing. One fighter is the hero, and one is the villain. This is an often-uncomfortable dynamic in fight sports. Combat sports rely on people’s basest instincts for violence and carnage, and that regularly plays out in racial tropes defining promotions. So often when there is a black fighter against a white fighter, the white fighter is the clean-cut, All-American family man hero, while the black fighter dons the black hat.
Garcia, of course, is Hispanic but the visual and the backstory of the fight will play into this uncomfortable dynamic.
In this case, even though the trope appears to be a reflection of truth, it is uncomfortable to write and think about. But it’s also uncomfortable that, even after all of Davis’ alleged misdeed, he is going to be showered with praise and make tens of millions of dollars. There is genuine discomfort whichever way you turn.
This fight, truly, should be the best of boxing. Neither of the two fighters have legitimate world titles and this fight is not for any legitimate belts, so none of the sanctioning bodies can get in the way.
The two fighters are tied to different broadcasters and different promotional outfits.
By any measure, the fighters are on opposite sides of the street and in boxing that is often prohibitive. Just ask Errol Spence and Terrence Crawford.
But not this time.
And yet, even when boxing gets something so truly right, the sport always finds a way to be shrouded in darkness.
Part 2 is coming soon and will focus on the fight itself.
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