Ryan Garcia pulled off a huge feat on Saturday, April 20 (after he missed weight and lost his chance to challenge for the WBC super lightweight title) by putting on a great showing to defeat Devin Haney in a thrilling fight held at the Barclays Center in NY.
Garcia even felt emboldened and issued a challenge to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, who knocked him out in 2023 and took away his undefeated record in a resounding manner in another blockbuster fight involving the 25-year-old.
A few years ago, as Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, and Gervonta Davis were making noise as undefeated 135 pound contenders, I somewhat rashly and publicly dubbed them the “Four Princes.” It was deliberately evocative and provocative, bestowed in the hope that this talented quartet would cross each other’s paths with the frequency of Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, and Marvin Hagler, whose multiple, classic encounters earned them the sobriquet of the “Four Kings.”
Important caveat #1: This was not at all meant to suggest that I thought this quartet was as great as those all-time greats or even necessarily had the potential to become so. It was more a case of having four, genuinely talented, boxers of similar age in the same weight class and the hope that they would mix and match and give us a series of classic encounters that this generation could look back on with the same kind of fondness that my generation recalls that series between four all-time greats.
But, within short order, it looked like I had whiffed on the whole notion. Lopez lost, shockingly, to George Kambosos – although, to be fair, he did so while in the kind of medical condition that should have seen him in the hospital rather than a boxing ring. Maybe it was just a small hiccup; perhaps Shakur Stevenson could take his place. But then Stevenson laid an egg against Edwin De Los Santos in one of the worst fights in recent years, and meanwhile Lopez began to alternate exciting outings with damp squibs, such as the borefest against Jamaine Ortiz. Then Davis created a legal morass for himself, and suddenly the window seemed to be closing.
Leonard had just turned 24 years old when he first faced Duran; by the time he was 25, he had fought Duran again and went on to beat Hearns. Lopez and Stevenson are both already 26 and Davis 29, and prior to Saturday night the whole group had between them engaged in precisely one encounter against their putative rivals: Davis’ seventh round stoppage of Garcia last year.
That, though, was a huge event: alongside Terence Crawford’s demolition of Errol Spence, one of the biggest fights in the US in 2023. It was a sign of the drawing power that this group of boxers has, and it was an entertaining clash, too. Against that, although Garcia had some moments, it was a fairly one-sided affair and the manner of the stoppage suggested a capitulation on the part of “KingRy.” Hardly the stuff of which legendary rivalries are made.
It is to Garcia’s credit that within a year he had saddled up to face Haney. Had he lost, he would have been 0-2 against the others and at best the Wilfred Benitez of the group. (If that comparison offends you, given that Benitez is himself deservedly a Hall-of-Famer, then he’d have been the Peter Lawford of this particular Rat Pack. Kids: ask your parents. Or your grandparents.)
Through six rounds of Saturday night’s action at the Barclays Center, it appeared to this observer as if that was just what was on the cards. As against Davis, Garcia had had his moments – notably a left hook that rattled Haney in the first round – but his strategy seemed to be to spend 30 seconds each round, normally the first 30, trying to land a power shot and then retreating and dancing around the ring and literally turning his back, more or less.
Even after what turned out to be a pivotal seventh round, when Garcia dropped Haney and had him hanging on desperately, it still felt as if that might be the case. Garcia lost his focus and hit Haney on the break, prompting an over-officious Harvey Dock to call time, give Haney a few extra seconds to recover, and take a potentially vital point from Garcia. And over the next couple of rounds, while Haney still seemed affected by the general carnage of the seventh, he appeared to be getting back into his groove.
Garcia’s explosive final few rounds put the seal on the victory, and in the process breathed new life into the Four Princes.
Apart from the fact that it was an exciting fight, apart from the fact that Garcia secured a thrilling victory, it created a genuine rivalry – we’re now all but certain to see a rematch – and left others seeking a piece of the action. Stevenson, for one, wasted no time offering his congratulations on social media and making it clear he wanted some of that smoke.
Garcia’s win was important not just for his career but for the group rivalry. Because any would-be Four (or Five) Kings redux needs a Sugar Ray Leonard – and that’s who Garcia now is.
Important caveat #2: I am not saying Garcia is Ray Leonard. I am not saying he is, or ever will be, remotely as great. But Leonard was the star around whom the other kings were forced to orbit; he was the good-looking, popular, Madison Avenue favorite whom the others wanted to fight. Importantly, he wanted to fight them, too (even if he toyed with Hagler, waited for him to get old, and retired and un-retired a couple of times before finally facing him). Garcia is the 2024 equivalent, with 11 million Instagram followers and, importantly, a clear willingness to get in the ring with the others.
(There is one other unfortunate parallel. Behind the scenes, Leonard’s life devolved into one of alleged spousal abuse and drug and alcohol use. Garcia’s win should not cause a whitewashing of the very real concerns about his mental health. The fact that he won does not mean the last couple of months were an act; yes, he could have been executing, to Andy Kaufmanesque perfection, an homage to Muhammad Ali’s pre-fight histrionics before he beat Sonny Liston, but more likely is that Garcia needs supportive people around him who care about him as a human more than a “cash cow” – perhaps now more than ever.)
It remains to be seen where this all goes from here. My Four Princes enthusiasm may yet prove unfounded or may not shake out as I imagined: Lopez may have missed his opportunity, Davis may continue to swim in an entirely different pool. Maybe Stevenson does wind up as the other member of the group. But Garcia’s win breathes new life into the prospect of a group of skilled boxers doing what boxing fans like boxers to do: facing each other, with plenty at stake, and giving us memorable fights in the process.
Gervonta “Tank” Davis and David Benavidez will both return to the ring on June 15 in a PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Davis will be facing Frank Martin, as expected, with Davis defending his WBA lightweight title. Benavidez is moving up to light heavyweight to face Oleksandr Gvozdyk, also as expected, for an interim WBC title.
The 29-year-old Davis (29-0, 27 KO) hasn’t fought since his Apr. 2023 knockout win over Ryan Garcia, while Martin (18-0, 12 KO), also 29, was last seen in July 2023, beating Artem Harutyunan in a fight that turned out more difficult than many expected.
“Tank” will absolutely be a massive favorite in this fight, but it really is about as good a fight as is out there for him right now, particularly considering he’s working in-house with PBC on fights.
Benavidez (28-0, 24 KO) has moved on from hoping he’ll land a fight at 168 with Canelo Alvarez, and will campaign at 175. The 27-year-old “Monster” physically dominated Demetrius Andrade last time out on Nov. 25, the headline fight of the final Showtime boxing pay-per-view.
The 37-year-old Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KO) retired after a thumping 2019 loss to Artur Beterbiev, but made sort of a soft return in early 2023, fighting three times on the year with wins over Josue Obando, Ricards Bolotniks, and Isaac Rodrigues.
Needless to say, Benavidez is a step back into the top level and a major leap in competition from those guys.
One fight that fans crave is the one between Gervonta Davis and Shakur Stevenson. But, their rivalry could not be settled in the ring. However, it was channeled on social media in a fresh set of back-and-forth between them that is soon turning ugly.
It all started when Shakur Stevenson counted himself and ‘Tank’ as the top 2 fighters in the 135 lbs weight division. He nudged his counterpart as to why the two of them could not fight this year, aligning with fans who’ve been seeking the matchup for a while now. While he outlined that he was everything that Tank was looking for in an opponent, the latter gave him a sharp reality check.
Tank could not help but draw up a list of reasons why he would not fight ‘Sugar’. First, he roped in an excerpt from Stevenson’s last fight that was against Edwin De Los Santos. In that matchup, despite his win, the fighter was criticized for not being up to the mark. Tank aligned with those criticisms. He wrote on his X, “What tf is this..n*gga still fight like an amateur.. soft a** n*gga! FIGHT BACH.”
Gervonta Davis then followed up his insult with another post in which he came in with some very scathing words. He explained that Stevenson was not a fighter of his league. Davis argued that it was only because of Top Rank and Bob Arum that Shakur is still getting professional gigs. He even went to the extent of claiming that the fighter did not deserve to headline weekend events, and rather deserved to be on smaller “Thursday night boxing” stints. “You a b**ch lil n***a.. you not the top..you a top rank fighter they run the ranks. Yo a** should be fighting on Thursday night boxing faithfully AFTER THEY PLAY ANDRE WARD clips bum,” he responded while sharing a clip of Shakur Stevenson’s fight with Edwin De Los Santos.
Ryan Garcia has taken to social media with some strange posts after missing weight for the Devin Haney fight on Friday.
The rival American boxing stars were set to clash for Haney’s WBC super-lightweight world title, live on talkSPORT on Saturday night, but the belt will now not be on the line for the challenger to win.
Haney successfully made the 140lbs super-lightweight limit at the official commission weigh-in, which took place behind closed doors on Friday.
Garcia however weighed in 3.2lbs over the limit at 143.2lbs.
Usually when a fighter is slightly overweight, they are given extra time by the commission to make the agreed limit.
However, the New York Commission have on this occasion refused this for Garcia because of how far over 140lbs he was.
This briefly threw the fight into late chaos, with both camps having to negotiate a deal to allow it to proceed as a non-title bout, which they have now successfully done.
Haney revealed that Garcia had honoured their press conference bet and paid him $500,000 per pound he was overweight – a total of $1.5million.
However, reports have suggested the fighters are only keeping up that appearance as part of the amended contract, and Garcia will actually cough up $600,000, along with 2 per cent of his PPV upside.
Garcia took to social media after the debacle.
“Actually 1.5M,” he tweeted alongside two crying emojis, “I don’t know. Three pounds is nothing stop crying.”
Garcia then followed up: “I feel great and I got a three pound advantage, let’s gooo hahahahaa. Winners do what they have to do I’m still sharp.”
He later added: “F*** ALL THAT, VIVA MEXICO, WE’RE LEAVING WITH HIS HEAD. BELTS WILL ALWAYS BE THERE.”
And said: “Why would I force myself to make weight so I can be weak? Nah, I’m here to win. That’s it.”
Garcia concluded: “My balls got too heavy, and back gained to much muscle from carrying the promo, and my fingers got stronger from all the tweets damn.”
Meanwhile, Haney said: “He’s very unprofessional. I told him yesterday his antics would betray him and this is just the start.”
Gervonta Davis, who knocked out Garcia last year, also gave his thoughts on people’s reactions to the situation.
Davis tweeted: “When I fought him we made it cool to go against him crazy. Now everybody’s writing him off. Clowns!”
Ryan Garcia has told talkSPORT.com that Gervonta Davis is not the hardest hitting boxer he’s faced.
The 25-year-old is set to challenge Devin Haney on Saturday night, live on talkSPORT, in what will be the second PPV fight of his career.
The first, of course, came against Davis, better known as Tank, last year.
Both men put their unbeaten records on the line with Tank coming out on top.
The renowned power puncher floored Garcia with a stiff right hand in round two, then stopped him with a body shot in round seven.
However, despite this result, ‘KingRy’ is adamant that he’s faced other opponents with more power than Tank.
When asked who’s hit him the hardest, Garcia told talkSPORT.com: “That’s probably Romero Duno.
“Even though I knocked him out in a minute, when he touched my back it felt like I was getting hit by a rock.
“And then Oscar Duarte, he hit hard.
“He had hands of stone, that s*** hurt.
“So those are the two hardest punchers that I remember.”
Discussing how most people would have assumed his answer would have been Davis, Garcia said: “People that criticise that comment have never boxed a day in their life, they don’t know s***.
“You don’t even need big pressure to knock somebody out. You need 6lbs of pressure.
“The only difference is if you don’t see the shot coming – that’s when you get dropped or hurt or whatever.
“He’s good at disguising his punches, but when I saw them they did not hurt at all.”
In a conversation with Fight Hype, George Kambosos insists he’s fully focused on his upcoming bout against Vasiliy Lomachenko but fields some questions about Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and why he isn’t taking on the best fighters around his weight class. Here’s some of what Kambosos had to say on that subject down below.
“I would love to see him fight Devin Haney, I would love to see that style matchup. I would love to see Tank step in there with Teofimo Lopez. I would love to see these kind of fights, and I think everybody’s always worried about the loss, the loss, and I think Tank is definitely one of them guys that doesn’t want to lose. I think a loss for him would totally diminish his mindset on what these guys try to do.
“No disrespect to Tank, hell of a fighter. But, again, it’s the public demand, it’s not me. The demand from the fans and the casual fans too — they’re starting to say ‘well, why is this guy not fighting, at 28, 29, why hasn’t he fought a guy like Devin Haney, why has he not fought a guy like Teofimo Lopez?’ Shakur as well. These are the kind of names that you want to see these elite fighters be matched up against.”
Gervonta Davis vs. Devin Haney is one of the most highly anticipated fights in the current age of boxing. At the beginning of the year, Davis shut down the idea on social media with a fiery response. Later, he announced his fight against Frank Martin. But the refusal was met with a seemingly innocent fan request. One social media user, clearly eager to see the two Titans clash, made a request to Tank Davis.
The request read, “GIVE US DAVIS vs HANEY U GAH DO IT FOR DA CITY CHAMP.” But Davis wasn’t having it. His reply? “B**** f*** Haney..where my crack pipe at,” wrote back Gervonta Davis. The colorful language made it clear Haney wasn’t even on his radar. Still, Devin Haney believes that this fight will eventually happen. But, in an appearance on the MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME podcast, the conjecture hit home when Devin got told to his face of the outcome that awaited him if he were to ever take that fight.
Former undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney remains optimistic about a future showdown with Gervonta Davis, despite doubts cast by his interviewers, Gillie Da King and Wallo267. While talking about the fight, Haney addressed the potential matchup, acknowledging the skepticism that many have over the fight happening anytime soon. “No, I mean, I definitely think so,” he said, referring to the fight eventually happening, “I think it’s only a matter of time.”
Wallo267, however, expressed his belief that Davis would prevail, citing his aggressive fighting style. “I am with Tank. I think Tank gon get crazy. I seen him. Tank is little different,” he said. Haney, unfazed, countered by highlighting the fight’s potential. “That’s why the fight has to happen because it’s people like you that think Tank will win,” Haney responded.
Wallo267, however, went on to add, “When he get up in there, just make sure you shield up.” In his opinion, the power of Gervonta Davis’ body shots are something most won’t be able to take. He playfully referred to Davis as a “mechanic” who would “fix fenders” in the ring, implying his ability to dismantle opponents.
“It’s people like Gil that think I will win. There’s so many people that just want to see the fight.” However, the issue is Devin Haney would have to sign up with the PBC if he wants to match up with Gervonta Davis, since Tank is promoted by the PBC. But Bill Haney has already expressed his thoughts about the possibility of Devin signing up with the promotion.
Devin Haney’s team, led by his outspoken father Bill, had been name-dropping Tank left and right. They wanted the fight. But when it came to signing with the PBC, the promotional outfit that housed Tank Davis, Team Haney got suspicious. Bill threw out a smokescreen, pointing to Ryan Garcia, their upcoming opponent, who fought under the PBC.
But that was a weak parry. The real question was: why didn’t they sign with PBC if they were so gung-ho about the Davis fight? Bill stated, “If that was the only way the fight could happen, and you can see the fighter we’re fighting [Ryan Garcia] right now fought under Golden Boy fought a fight with them [PBC against Tank Davis]. So that kills that narrative.”
So, Bill Haney didn’t see any benefit in signing a contract under Al Haymon. In fact, they’d rather stay a free agent and work on making the fight against Tank Davis. What are your thoughts about this?
Devin Haney’s shove of Ryan Garcia has drawn the attention of common enemy Gervonta Davis.
Haney and Garcia met in a first fight-week face-off on top of the Empire State Building ahead of their April 20 showdown, and things turned quickly heated.
The pair came face-to-face and traded insults, before WBC champion Haney grabbed his rival’s neck and shoved him before the respective teams separated the fighters.
Davis, who beat Garcia by stoppage in April 2023, was quick to post a response to the clash, sharing a video of two teenagers fighting with one being dropped by a right hook.
He shared it with the caption: “Two good kids selling it!”
Davis settled his bitter rivalry with Garcia last year, causing him to retire from their fight with a brutal body shot.’
He also has traded words with Haney over a potential all-American mega-fight, but it is unclear whether this will materialise in 2024.
Davis currently holds the WBA title at 135lbs, but could easily move up to 140lbs and chase a fight against Haney.
25-year-old Haney may need to prevent any further incidents from taking place, given he has previously received fines for his actions.
The WBC super-lightweight champion was fined $400,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for shoving Vasyl Lomachenko before his win in May 2023.
Garcia will want to bounce back with a shock win in New York, to revive his ambitions of conquering the sport after his damaging defeat to Davis.
But there have been concerns for Garcia including from his ex-wife, after his bizarre activity on social media in the build-up.
Despite questions being raised by the WBC, Garcia has been cleared to compete in the event.
The winner will get their fourth win over their respective opponent, given Haney and Garcia have fought six times in the amateur ranks with three wins apiece.
And Garcia has made a surprisingly bold prediction for their maiden professional clash, suggesting: “I just have to show up [to win the fight].
“If I wanted to, I could knock him out in the first.
“If you want to make money, bet on a second-round knockout.”
Though Frank Martin versus Gervonta Davis has not been confirmed, Martin last week did nothing to cool the rumors during Ryan Garcia’s public workout in Dallas.
There has been long-term speculation that the WBA lightweight world champion Davis will next fight Martin on Saturday, June 22, on Prime Video PPV.
Martin, 18-0 (12 KOs), a gym-mate of Garcia – who trains with Derrick James in Dallas, Texas – appeared at the gym during Garcia’s workout and the No. 2 contender for the lightweight world title held by Davis, 29-0 (27 KOs) hasn’t fought since last July, when he won a unanimous decision over Artem Harutyunyan.
Since that bout, Martin more rumors implied that he would face Shakur Stevenson, but the fight fell through. Now, the 29-year-old known as “The Ghost” could be getting a fight against one of boxing’s brightest stars in 29-year-old Davis.
“A lot of people are going to see the unexpected,” Martin said to FightHub TV. “Everybody knows who Tank [Gervonta Davis] is – he is a star. A lot of people don’t really know who I am in the boxing world.”
Martin views the potential fight as an opportunity and, with a nod to a rehydration clause that Garcia apparently suffered from when he fought Tank last April, Martin would not have to agree to the same terms.
Martin confirmed: “No rehydration clause or catchweight”, with a nodding approval, implying that it would be a standard lightweight bout.
“It is one of my opportunities for me to wake the world up,” added Martin.
Davis has not boxed since last April, when he knocked out Garcia in the seventh-round of their PPV hit.
Davis was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest as well as three years of probation after the fight, stemming from a Baltimore hit-and-run case. On June 1, 2023, Davis was deemed to have violated the terms of his house arrest and ordered to fulfil the remainder of his sentence behind bars and was released 44 days later – but he has yet to have a fight announced.
Martin made it clear that he has started preparation to face Davis, who is one of the biggest stars in the sport.