Inside the making of Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia — a mega-fight that helps save the sport of boxing

• Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia on April 22 in Las Vegas will be one of the year's big boxing events.
• The fight, which will air on Showtime Sports PPV, will be a glamorous and celebrity-studded affair.
• "We haven't seen this type of match for some time," Stephen Espinoza told Insider.

Gervonta Davis made Ryan Garcia wait a couple of hours as the lightweight boxer turned up late to Wednesday's press conference in New York City wearing a brightly-colored fur coat while clutching a designer handbag.

Fight fans have been waiting months, if not years, for a mega-fight like this to get booked so a little delay didn't really matter.

Boxing rarely gets as big as it will get in the build-up to the 136-pound showdown on April 22 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

"This is the biggest fight that boxing can make," Garcia, 24, told Insider this week.

"It's the type of event that gets fans really excited, and we haven't seen this type of match for some time," Stephen Espinoza, the president of Showtime Sports and a key organizer of the event, said in an interview with Insider.

The show brings together two of the most popular fighters in the modern era — a mini Mike Tyson in "Tank" Davis, 28, against the explosive Amir Khan-esque speed of "KingRy" Garcia.

It's a dream match.

"It's going to be massive," Espinoza continued. 

Though no legitimate championship is on the line, there are arguably even greater stakes at play.

Whoever wins will be regarded as the face of the sport, and the go-to athlete to grace the covers of everything from magazines to video games.

These are fighters who are beginning to transcend the sport already as they're on the phone lists of rappers, influencers, and high-stakes poker players.

A victory next month — in front of an event in which celebrities will no doubt dress to the nines — raises their name value even further in the mainstream consciousness.

"If he we go by the unofficial indicators like ticket requests, we're off to a really hot start," Espinoza told Insider. "I've been flooded with requests from celebrities, athletes, and everyone else since the fight was announced."

This is the hottest ticket in town, and for Garcia's promoter Oscar de la Hoya, who spoke to reporters in Los Angeles on Thursday to complete a two-city promo tour this week, it's "what boxing is all about."

How this fight came to be while others seemed to fail

Insider reported last year that two super fights to transcend the sport were being negotiated.

Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr., which would have brought together America's two best boxers to determine a No.1 fighter at welterweight — if not the entire sport — was one of those fights.

Davis vs. Garcia, which showcases two prominent and unbeaten fighters in their 20s colliding in potentially explosive fashion, is another.

The former saw one of the fighters, Crawford, walk away from a deal he proposed, per two Insider sources at the time.

This blindsided Spence's representatives as Crawford signed a one-fight deal with start-up company BLK Prime to instead compete against European boxer David Avanesyan.

The difference between that fight and the Davis and Garcia bout was that these two fighters always wanted to compete against one another, sources told Insider.

—Al Dawson (@AlanDawsonSport) March 10, 2023

Regardless, there were still obstacles to overcome as the negotiations involved rival representatives — Premier Boxing Champions and Golden Boy Promotions — and rival broadcasters in Showtime Sports and DAZN.

A representative of Davis' at the time, Leonard Ellerbe, had numerous meetings with Golden Boy President Eric Gomez in Los Angeles to smooth the boxing side of the negotiation, according to two Insider sources.

Gomez even confirmed to Insider in October that they were in "deep talks" to make the super-fight a reality.

Once they agreed to a deal in principle, executives at Showtime and DAZN had to get on the same page regarding the broadcast of the event, and how best to deliver the pay-per-view.

Showtime will lead the pay-per-view with its commentary team, with DAZN broadcasting it on its platform, too.

There were times Garcia feared negotiations for his fight would fail

ESPN reported in February that concerns over a rematch clause held up the announcement of a deal. It all, allegedly, came down to which side would control the second fight — if there ever was one.

According to sources Insider spoke to at the time, that was never an impediment to the fight happening as planned to all of whom had knowledge of the situation.

Depending on whether one spoke to people on the Golden Boy-DAZN side of things, or on the PBC-Showtime side, the complete deal — at that point — was either "99% done" or "done, done."

Regardless, there were times when Garcia himself lost confidence the fight would materialize. "The truth is I was on board right away for this fight. But, sometimes, I had a little doubt," it would happen, he told Insider.

Garcia said he was frustrated Tank's team took a fight in January, when he wanted his own "stay-busy" bout against Maxi Hughes around October.

"They decided if I do that, I wouldn't fight in December," said Garcia. "But then come December, he gets a fight in January" against Hector Luis Garcia, who he beat in emphatic fashion.

Ryan Garcia also said there was a discrepancy between the agreed-upon weight. Garcia's last fight — a dominant knockout win over Javier Fortuna in July 2022 — was at 140 pounds.

He said that the deal for the fight against Davis, who competes at 135 pounds, was initially designed for them to meet in the middle "at 138 pounds, or 137."

But then, a week later, Garcia got a phone call. "No," Garcia said he was told. "We have to do it at 136."

Garcia relented, and said he agreed to a rehydration clause of 10 pounds that limits the amount he's allowed to weigh on the day of the fight.

For Tank, as told to Fight Hype correspondent Sean Zittel, this is because he's the star of the show.

As the so-called A-side, he can dictate certain stipulations. It's his terms, or else.

—Sean Zittel (@Sean_Zittel) March 10, 2023

For Garcia, though, "that's clown energy."

"They tried to discourage me from taking this fight. Or, maybe they just felt like they needed that type of advantage," he said.

"I think he's trying to strip my strength away but my strength doesn't come from weight, it comes from within. And he'll see that very soon," Garcia continued.

The protracted negotiations had other implications, too

The hold-up meant executives at Showtime were loathed to release their widely-anticipated schedule of boxing events for the second quarter, an Insider source with knowledge of the situation revealed.

There were conversations at the top of the company that said if they released the schedule without Tank vs. Garcia then they'd risk fan disappointment when there was so much expectation that this bout was being delivered.

Ultimately, the broadcaster waited until it was finally over the line to unveil the rest of their calendar — which included an extraordinary nine events in 11 weeks through to April 22.

Here are just five marquee offerings:

• March 11 — Tim Tszyu vs. Tony Harrison — Sydney, Australia
• March 25 — David Benavidez vs. Caleb Plant — Las Vegas, Nevada
• April 11 — Sebastian Fundora vs. Brian Mendoza — Carson, California
• April 22 — Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia — Las Vegas, Nevada
• May 13 — Alberto Puello vs. Rolando Romero — TBD

Davis also had what Garcia described as "legal difficulties."

In December, just days before Davis defeated Hector Luis Garcia, he was arrested and jailed in Florida on a domestic violence charge.

The woman involved reportedly withdrew her accusation and shared in a social media post that her call to law enforcement was "unnecessary," as per Bloody Elbow.

In February, Davis pleaded guilty to a separate case for a hit-and-run crash in November 2020 that left a pregnant woman and three other people injured, according to ESPN.

Insider spoke to a source close to Davis who said ahead of the fighter's plea that they were confident the court date was never going to compromise the anticipated April showdown with Garcia.

Garcia told Insider this week that he wasn't "going to speak" further on those legal difficulties, or "talk down on him about that."

Good things come to those who wait

Despite the rival representatives, broadcast partners, and the numerous hurdles to clear boxing's biggest event of the year, the April 22 show is a go.

Though the fight landed at the T-Mobile Arena, which is home to the NHL team the Golden Knights, Insider learned midway through the protracted negotiation period that the Allegiant Stadium was in play.

For a boxing show, the Allegiant — home to NFL side Las Vegas Raiders — could host over 70,000 fans.

According to Insider's sources, organizers contemplated a big stadium show, a more intimate venue like the 15,000-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena, or the T-Mobile Arena.

A possible issue with the Raiders Stadium is that bizarrely for a huge venue, the revenue from the gate could be lower than if it were held at a smaller arena like the MGM Grand, where each ticket could cost a helluva lot more.

Casinos also offer financial incentives to lure event organizers into their properties, as it ensures tens of thousands of people are at their resort, spending money prior to the event, going for lunch or dinner, and then gambling.

Should a show take place slightly away from the Vegas Strip at the Allegiant, there's a logistical issue of how a casino transports its high rollers to that venue. Even more of an issue is ensuring those high rollers return to the casino.

According to one Insider source, conversations take place with fancier or larger venues but oftentimes just end up back at the MGM Grand because of that reason.

This time, though, it was different. Espinoza told Insider that the T-Mobile Arena was "very aggressive in stepping up and saying they wanted the fight."

Espinoza is one of the few people in the business who has helped organize combat sports events that generate hundreds of millions of dollars.

Considering his prior success, we asked the corporate executive if he had any prediction for how well the Davis vs. Garcia show could fare at the gate, and on pay-per-view.

"Candidly, I don't like to predict," he said, shutting the question down. "But it's been a while since we've seen something like this."

Espinoza said his phone has blown up with celebrity requests for tickets

For Espinoza, bringing Davis and Garcia together has unique advantages because they have "two of the larger fanbases in the sport."

He said: "They're undefeated, in their prime or just entering their primes, and it's one of those right fights at the right time scenarios."

He said his phone has blown up with celebrity ticket requests, which is something that only really happens when an event breaks into the mainstream.

This is similar to what happened with Floyd Mayweather's boxing exhibition with Logan Paul, which Showtime broadcast in 2021, or when Mayweather fought Conor McGregor, Manny Pacquiao, or Canelo, all on Showtime.

"The good thing is when we have these fights in the first half of the year, we see a lot more NFL players because, from July through December, they're a little bit off-limits given their training and schedule," Espinoza said.

"Anecdotally, the NFL is going to be in full force because that's been the majority of the outreach by this point," he continued.

"But we've also got a number of high-level music acts," he said, "who are going to maneuver from performances at Coachella — in some cases that day — to fly in and make the fight that evening."

"So when you get an opportunity like this, people will go to all kinds of lengths to make sure they're inside the venue to make the fight," he added.

It's the fight to save boxing, Garcia told Insider

Davis, Garcia, Premier Boxing Champions, Golden Boy Promotions, Showtime Sports, and DAZN, have provided a critical case study as to how boxing's biggest events can work even when numerous parties are involved.

Garcia told Insider he believes it's a fight that revives the sport.

"What I found out through this process is there's a way to work with yourself, with your ego. You can make anything happen. And that's what I accepted," Garcia said.

He continued: "I've seen this problem and nobody has really done anything about it. They just talk about it. But I really wanted to put my words into action, and I wasn't going to let the fans down."

The late television boxing analyst Larry Merchant once quipped that: "Nothing will kill boxing, and nothing can save it."

Fights like this, though, certainly help to keep it alive.