Eddie Hearn picking Gervonta Davis to beat Ryan Garcia: “He’s a bad MF, just like Mike Tyson was”

Gervonta “Tank” Davis seemingly cleared the last hurdle toward making an April 15 fight with Ryan Garcia, when Davis stopped Hector Luis Garcia in the ninth round of Saturday’s Showtime PPV main event.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has no stake in the potential Davis vs Garcia bout to come this spring, but the boxing fan in him is just like most of us, recognizing that it’s a huge fight and one that could also be tremendously exciting once the bell sounds.

Hearn spoke about the matchup with Ak and Barak on The DAZN Boxing show this week (sign up at DAZN.com):

Eddie Hearn’s thoughts on Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia:

“Gervonta’s a very exciting fighter. He’s a huge draw, as we know, and he’s also an outstanding fighter. ... He’s a bad motherfucker. Just like Mike Tyson was, just like some of these other greats were, and that makes them very, very dangerous. They’re fearless, and you can’t get in his head.”

“Gervonta loses rounds, but he wears you down. He has that pressure, he punches very hard, you can’t switch off against him. ... Generally, in those first three or four rounds, people have success against Gervonta Davis — it’s not like he’s technically this incredible fighter, that you’re not gonna win rounds off. You are.”

“Ryan Garcia against Gervonta Davis is the biggest fight in boxing at the moment, in terms of fights that are there to be made. Now you’ve got AJ-Fury, you’ve got all these other fights, but in terms of fights that are done or supposedly done or on our doorstep, that’s the biggest fight out there.

“It’s much bigger than Crawford-Spence. It’s two fan bases — you saw the crowd on Saturday. He’s consistently doing those numbers, right? Ryan Garcia is consistently doing numbers, he’s a big draw. It’s two completely separate fan bases and two very different young men. It’s a brilliant fight.”

“I don’t know enough about Ryan Garcia. I worry; he’s come through his mental health battle, but we know he’s emotionally a little bit frail. So in that respect, in a close fight, I always give the edge to the person that I know psychologically is in a better position, and that is Gervonta Davis.”

“I think it was very brave of Ryan (to speak about mental health), and I think it was great for young men and kids in general that someone with that kind or profile would speak up and talk about his struggles. But I know fighters with mindsets like Gervonta Davis. Gervonta Davis has struggles, don’t get me wrong, but he just approaches them in a different way ... probably because of what he’s been through in his life. I’m not saying Ryan Garcia hasn’t had it hard, but (Tank) is different.

“When I look at Gervonta Davis, I see a wounded young man, I just see a kid with a chip on his shoulder that don’t give a fuck. For me, in a fight that’s 50/50 — skill will always win, but this is a fight that’s very close.”

“There’s a lot of unanswered questions about Ryan Garcia, but he keeps answering them to a certain level. I didn’t think he could beat Luke Campbell. I thought he’d struggle against Javier Fortuna. But he’s still yet to fight the people at the same level as consistently as Gervonta Davis.”

“I first watched Gervonta Davis live beat the living shit out of (Jose) Pedraza at the Barclays Center to win a world title. And I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, this kid is an animal.’ Now he loses a little bit of that up at 135 and up at 140 ... but my God, and look at what Pedraza’s done recently, like, he’s consistently performing against top 140 guys all the time. I saw the look on Pedraza’s face, as if to say, ‘Man.’”

“(Gervonta’s) still not really boxed any elite guys, but he’s boxed at a world level consistently for a long time. But he’s gonna get hit against Ryan Garcia. Ryan Garcia is very long, he has very fast hands. Where (Davis) struggled a little bit against Hector Garcia was the range — well, Ryan Garcia has even more range, and he punches harder. I give Ryan Garcia a shot in this fight, no question about it, but if you’re asking me who wins, I say Tank Davis.”

“But let’s hope — I mean, is this fight gonna happen? I was disappointed and I was worried that Ryan wasn’t there, because if it’s done and if it’s signed and the venue’s agreed, you’d a million percent be there. But it’s not really Ryan’s style, either.”

“I’ve had this situation before with fights. But if the fight’s done and it’s actually happening, I would have liked to see Ryan there, because this is a big fight, this is a big fight. It’s a great fight for boxing.”