With Unwavering Humility, Ryan Garcia Discloses a Private Thought He Had Before Stepping into the Ring with Gervonta Davis

Ryan Garcia exudes confidence. With each fight he’s undertaken, he’s made sure he told the world that he’s going to win that matchup. However, when he was pitted against Gervonta Davis last year, this wasn’t the case.

In April 2023, ‘KingRy’ entered the ring against his counterpart, ‘Tank’ Davis. That fight was as massive as it could get. Both the fighters were leveled, and the fight could go either way. However, Tank sought a rehydration clause in the fight contract citing his opponent’s bigger size. Many boxing aficionados believed that the clause would stop Garcia from winning the fight. Did Garcia also share the same belief?

Is Ryan Garcia clairvoyant?

In his appearance on the Fresh and Fist – After Hours podcast, the 25-year-old fighter was asked if he always knew before he entered the ring that he would win the fight. While he doubled down on such an assumption, he also revealed that before the Tank fight, he had doubts about winning the bout.

“Yeah for sure. Almost every single one of them. The only time I did not think I will win is the time I lost,” he admitted to the host of the podcast. In his Las Vegas fight against Tank, Garcia registered his career’s first loss and the sole one to date.

He was dropped in the second and seventh rounds. While he managed to recuperate from the initial knockdown, he failed to get up from the body shot in the seventh round.

From what he’s stated about his condition before the Tank fight, this revelation does not come as a surprise. Here are the signs that he’s come clean about that must have nudged him to doubt his chances of winning against Gervonta Davis.

Was it a fight between equals?

Garcia’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, warned him against accepting the rehydration clause. Per it, no fighter could put on more than 10 lbs between the ceremonial weigh-in and the fight. However, Garcia accepted the clause, and he faced the repercussions for it.

Earlier, in a conversation on the Full Send Podcast, he explained, “I did everything I could to try to propel boxing forward. For that shit was boring as f*ck and nobody was fighting each other so, I took every clause you could think of.” In his attempt to push the sport, the fighter took the worst deal he could.

He added, “I stepped into the ring with a separated rib, and this is not an excuse, but I was severely dehydrated, so anything I got touched with affected me in the ring when I was sparring. I had blisters all over my mouth, I had heat flashes at night, I was severely shaking at night.” In the end, a precise shot from Davis to his body dropped him to his knees, costing him the fight.

Do you think Ryan Garcia made a wise decision by taking the rehydration clause? Let us know in the comments section below.