Gervonta Davis to Fight Hector Luis Garcia January 7 Ahead of Ryan Garcia Bout
Mike Chiari@@mikechiari
Featured Columnist IVNovember 18, 2022
Ahead of a reported April fight against Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis announced Friday that he will face Hector Luis Garcia in January.
Davis announced on Instagram that the Hector Luis Garcia bout will occur on Jan. 7 in Washington, D.C. ESPN's Mike Coppinger also reported that the fight will air on Showtime PPV, and Davis will put his 135-pound title on the line.
On Thursday, after Davis posted on Instagram that he had finalized a fight against Ryan Garcia in 2023, Coppinger reported that their clash would take place on April 15 in Las Vegas and be fought at a catchweight of 136 pounds.
In 27 career professional fights, Davis is a perfect 27-0 with 25 wins by way of knockout. He is also the reigning WBA (regular) lightweight champion, as he won the vacant title in a victory over Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2019.
Davis won his only fight this year, beating Rolando Romero by sixth-round technical knockout in May to retain his title.
While all eyes are on the undefeated Davis and Ryan Garcia facing each other in April, Hector Garcia could provide Davis with more of a challenge than many of his past opponents.
The 31-year-old Hector Garcia is 16-0 with three no-contests and 10 wins by way of knockout. He scored the biggest victory of his career in August when he beat Roger Gutierrez by unanimous decision to become the new WBA super featherweight champion.
Since the fight against Davis will be contested at 135 pounds, Garcia's 130-pound title will not be on the line.
Should Davis get past Hector Garcia, it will set the stage for another battle of unbeatens against the 23-0 Ryan Garcia.
Garcia beat Luke Campbell for the vacant WBC interim lightweight title in January 2021, but he had to vacate the title when he took time off to focus on his mental health. Garcia returned over one year later to beat Emmanuel Tagoe, and he defeated Javier Fortuna by sixth-round TKO in his most recent bout in July.
Hector Garcia will have a chance to play spoiler in January, but it is still widely expected that Davis will pick up the win and move on to one of the biggest possible superfights in boxing against Ryan Garcia.
