Gervonta 'Tank' Davis, Ryan Garcia Agree to the Framework of a Deal for January Fight
The broadcast network remains a significant obstacle in ongoing negotiations.
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Representatives for Ryan Garcia and Gervonta “Tank” Davis have agreed to the framework of a deal for a 136-pound catchweight fight, sources familiar with the negotiations told Sports Illustrated.
While most of the key contractual issues have been resolved, who will broadcast the fight remains a significant obstacle. Mayweather Promotions, which represents Davis along with Al Haymon, has insisted that Showtime be the exclusive pay-per-view distributor in the U.S, sources told SI. Showtime has aired Davis’s last 11 fights. DAZN has a contract with Golden Boy, which promotes Garcia, and is unwilling to sign off unless the streaming service is involved in the U.S. broadcast.
Representatives for Davis and Garcia have engaged in intense negotiations in recent weeks, with both sides motivated to strike a deal. There is broad agreement on the financial terms, which includes significant guarantees for both fighters and an agreed-upon split of pay-per-view percentages. Davis, who campaigns at 135-pounds, has agreed to come up to 136. Garcia, who weighed 140-pounds for his last fight, has agreed to drop back down.
The targeted fight date is January in Las Vegas.
Davis-Garcia is one of boxing’s most anticipated matchups. Davis, 27, is one of boxing’s biggest stars, a former 130-pound champion and a proven draw in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York. Davis’s last fight, a sixth-round knockout of Rolando Romero at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, attracted a crowd of 18,970—a record for boxing in the building—and a live gate of more than $4 million.
Garcia, 24, is one of boxing’s fastest-rising young stars, with a social media following that includes in excess of nine million followers on Instagram. Garcia (23-0) burst onto the national scene in 2019 with a spectacular first-round knockout of Romero Duno. That fight, which served as the co-main event to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s light heavyweight title challenge against Sergey Kovalev, propelled Garcia into a headlining slot against former title challenge Francisco Fonseca in 2020. In front of a crowd of 10,310 in Anaheim, Garcia stopped Fonseca 80 seconds into the first round.
Garcia’s next win, a knockout of Luke Campbell, in 2021, was his most significant. Facing his most experienced opponent to date, Garcia overcame a second-round knockdown to stop Campbell with a sweeping body shot in the seventh. After a 16-month layoff to deal with physical and mental health issues, Garcia has won two fights in a row, the most recent a sixth-round knockout of former 130-pound titleholder Javier Fortuna.
In recent months, Garcia and Davis have waged a public war of words on social media. If the networks can come to an agreement, the two will finally meet in the ring.
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