Gervonta Davis bet Ryan Garcia their whole fight purse and it was such a mistake
Gervonta Davis might really regret upping the ante for his bout with challenger Ryan Garcia this weekend.
The two boxing megastars jumped on an Instagram Live stream Tuesday ahead of their Saturday showdown and the trash talk soon turned to side bets.
Very large side bets.
Davis (-275 at BetMGM) proposed the two wager their shares of the fight purse with the winner claiming the entire bag.
Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis (-245) are betting the entire purse for their fight this Saturday… winner takes all
Who ya got? pic.twitter.com/vGhP7R7Ytw
— br_betting (@br_betting) April 18, 2023
It’s easy to understand the bravado from Davis, who is 28-0 with 26 knockouts in his pro career. He’s also successfully defended his lightweight title on three occasions already, so it’s not like he doesn’t have experience in this position.
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It’s even easier to understand why Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs) was so eager to take Davis up on the offer. King Ryan (+200) has wanted to get in the ring against Tank for quite some time now. Boxing fans know megafights don’t just come together overnight, but there was legitimate concern this bout would never take place.
As Garcia continued to rack up impressive wins, it was getting harder and harder for Davis to duck him.
But here’s the thing: Davis is set to earn way more from the purse than Garcia is. He has so much more to lose — financially and reputation-wise — than his challenger.
While we don’t officially know the money at stake here, SportsPayouts data from previous fights shows Davis stands to earn significantly more than Garcia just for entering the ring. Tank took home $1.5 million from the purse in his last bout against Hector Luis Garcia, who earned just $350K for the title shot. Current estimates for Davis-Garcia put the champ’s purse value at $5 million with Garcia expected to earn $2 million – and this doesn’t include their breakdown of pay-per-view dollars.
Which is all to say that Davis is putting up so much more money here! Of course Garcia is going to take that bet! He’d be absolutely foolish to turn down an offer like this.
“I’m trying to make it official”
What do you think about Davis and Garcia’s wager? pic.twitter.com/iOmn46fDgM
— br_betting (@br_betting) April 19, 2023
Think about it like this: If Garcia were to take his $2 million to a sportsbook and bet on himself, his payout would still be less than what Davis is offering.
Davis is essentially giving his opponent much better odds (+250 instead of +200) than the books actually taking bets on the fight.
Maybe it works out and Davis walks away with a victory, but regardless of how good a boxer he is, Tank’s math skills could use a little work.