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Things took a turn for the worse at Thursday’s final press conference for the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia pay-per-view match to be held this Saturday night in Las Vegas. Davis and Garcia, who are young, brutish and know how to draw eyeballs, expressed an ominous degree of confidence as they squared off in a vocal battle before sparring in the ring this weekend. «I’m going to finish it,» Garcia said of Davis. «I promise. It’s over.» Davis’ response to Garcia’s blatant confidence? «Delirious. That’s it.» In fact, it wasn’t long before things started to get personal between the two men.
“You’re laughing,” Garcia told Davis across the stage at one point, “but I’m absolutely serious. It will happen and it will end soon. So fast.” Garcia was just getting started. “You have the lowest punch in boxing right now,” he said to his opponent. “You met the wrong guy right here…this is where it all catches up to you anyways.” … You’re done.»
Davis, of course, was not one to take such talk calmly. «I touch that jaw and I’m telling you you’re going to sleep,» he told Garcia. “When I touch something, you fall asleep,” Garcia said. “You go to the temple,” Davis said, “you don’t go to the jaw. I’ll break your jaw. I promise you. Don’t even bring your mother or daughter. Davis went on to clarify that he doesn’t believe Garcia has anything more than a punch. «This guy has no basis at all,» he said of Garcia. «It’s all he’s relying on is a hook … no defense, no nothing, no footwork, no head movement, nothing.»
The subject turned to a leak that Davis claims Garcia had in his field. Garcia indicated that he didn’t care whether his training camp was bugged or not. «If you want to see me practice tonight, you can,» Garcia said. “Your whole team can come and watch. It’s not going to stop what’s about to happen.» What will undoubtedly happen this weekend (barring a catastrophe) is that two of the most famous fighters in the world will face off in their first overalls. It’s something that happens too rarely in the contemporary fighting game.
«You don’t get to this position without having something special,» Garcia said. «I am who I say I am,» Davis said. “I am that boy. I’m that guy. I didn’t come here out of nowhere. I put the work in. I got those guys out of there. No matter what, Saturday night should turn out to be nothing if not completely interesting.