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Mike CoppingerESPN
The fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia is now finalized.
Davis announced on Twitter that he’ll meet Garcia on April 22 in Las Vegas. The finalization of the broadcast agreement between Showtime and DAZN was all that was left to close, as ESPN reported last week, and that’s now been taken care of.
Davis is promoted by PBC and fights on Showtime, while Garcia fights for Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions on DAZN.
The fight was planned for April 15, but was pushed back one week to allow more time to promote as negotiations dragged out, sources said.
The 136-pound catchweight fight between the star boxers is perhaps the biggest commercial event boxing can deliver. A dispute over the rematch clause threatened to derail the fight, but that issue was resolved earlier this month after PBC agreed that Golden Boy would serve as the lead promoter for the rematch if Garcia wins.
Only Davis can exercise the rematch clause in the event he loses, per sources. Typically, boxers have 30 days to activate their right to an immediate return bout. Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) will earn the lion’s share of revenue for the first fight, per sources, and is the betting favorite to win the bout. The Baltimore native defeated Hector Luis Garcia last month via ninth-round TKO to keep the Ryan Garcia matchup intact.
Earlier this month, Davis pleaded guilty to four counts stemming from a hit-and-run crash in November 2020 in Baltimore that left four people injured, including a pregnant woman. Davis’ sentencing is set for May 5, which means any potential punishment won’t interfere with his ability to compete in April.
Davis was arraigned on Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in connection with a Dec. 27 misdemeanor domestic violence charge of battery causing bodily harm. His next court hearing is set for March 31, per Broward County court records. Davis pleaded not guilty after allegedly hitting the mother of his 1-year-old daughter with a “closed-hand type slap,” according to police, who said she suffered a small abrasion on the inside of her upper lip. She asked the court to dismiss charges in an affidavit filed Jan. 24.
Both Davis and Garcia announced on Instagram in mid-November that they would meet in a long-awaited fight in 2023, but it took months to reach an agreement on terms.
Davis, a 28-year-old from Baltimore, is one of the biggest needle-movers in boxing. “Tank” has 4.2 million Instagram followers and routinely fights before a host of celebrities. ESPN’s No. 3 lightweight, Davis won a junior lightweight title with a seventh-round KO of Jose Pedraza in 2017.
Before he defeated Hector Luis Garcia, Davis scored wins over Isaac Cruz and Rolly Romero in 135-pound bouts.
Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs) is a star, too, with over 9 million followers on Instagram. Regarded for his lightning-quick hands, the 24-year-old scored a career-best win in January 2021 after he survived a knockdown to stop Luke Campbell in the seventh round. He didn’t fight the rest of 2021 after he withdrew from a fight with Javier Fortuna to address his mental health followed by wrist surgery that scrapped a bout with Joseph Diaz Jr. Garcia, who fights out of Southern California, returned last year with wins over Emmanuel Tagoe and Javier Fortuna at 140 pounds. Garcia, who formerly campaigned at 135 pounds, vowed to remain at 140 but will drop four pounds for the catchweight bout.
Garcia was set to fight Mercito Gesta in January, but he bypassed the planned tune-up bout to head directly into the high-stakes showdown with Davis.