LOS ANGELES – Ryan Garcia weighed in on the weighty issue surrounding his super fight against Gervonta Davis on April 22 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime pay per view during their kickoff press conference at The Beverly Hilton.

Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) had been clamoring to fight Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) over the course of the last three years, and in order to get in the ring with the knockout artist, the 23-year-old was forced to concede to contractual demands from Team Tank. 

Chief among the line items was that Garcia had to agree to fight at a catchweight of 136 pounds, and on the following day during the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s morning weigh-in, Garcia could not weigh more than 146 pounds. Garcia can weigh as much as he wants after on fight day, leading up to the opening bell.

Garcia fought six times at the lightweight limit from 2018 to 2021. But in his pair of outings in 2022 under new coach Joe Goossen, Garcia moved up to 140 pounds at the behest of his opponents Emmanuel Tagoe and Javier Fortuna.

The 24-year-old Garcia got comfortable and acclimated at the weight and wanted to continue his career as a junior welterweight.

But the nearly five-inches shorter Davis, who knocked out Mario Barrios during his lone fight at 140 pounds in 2021 to win a secondary title, demanded the fight take place as close to the lightweight limit as possible.

In an interview with BoxingScene.com, both fighters opened up about the weight clause. 

“It just shows you what type of person he is. No integrity. No will to fight the best. No will to get the best version of me, but it doesn't matter,” Garcia told BoxingScene.com. “It can't stop what God has destined for me. I chose to make this fight happen. I didn't put myself first. I put the boxing fans first. I put the sport itself first. I want to make an impact on this sport. I want to lead the charge. Nobody was willing to do it. Terence Crawford didn't want to do it. Errol Spence Jr. didn't want to do it. Nobody wanted to lead the charge, so I had to do it. I guess I'm doing it – the one that they didn't expect to do it. The one that's supposed to be scared. The one that's supposed to be a coward.”

Davis explained his stance on why he didn’t want to fight the bigger Garcia at a weight of which his opponent was more comfortable with.

“I wanted the fight to be at 135 pounds. That's [my] weight class,” Davis told BoxingScene.com. “He's the one that wanted to do it at a catchweight, trying to do it at 137, 138. I fight at 135. That's my weight class, and that's what it was supposed to be at. They weren't going to take the fight if it wasn't at 136, or a catchweight. Why would I fight him at 140 if he's bigger than me? That don't make no sense. That's just people being a dumbass. That's it.” 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.