Report: Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia Fight in 'Serious Jeopardy' over Contract
The highly anticipated fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia reportedly may not happen.
According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, the bout is in "serious jeopardy" because of issues with the contract related to a rematch clause.
Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes for Garcia, reportedly thought it had an agreement in place for a potential rematch, as Golden Boy and DAZN would have been in control of a rematch had Garcia won.
The contract reportedly came back with Premier Boxing Champions in control of the rematch, however, and Golden Boy views it as a "non-negotiable issue" and "will not budge" because of its commitments to DAZN as the pay-per-view carrier, per Mannix.
Davis vs. Garcia is a fight boxing fans have long clamored for, and it seemed it was finally about to come to fruition, with ESPN's Mike Coppinger reporting April 15 as the fight date in Las Vegas.
The undefeated Davis had one obstacle to get past first in the form of Héctor García, and he did precisely that on Jan. 7 when he beat García by ninth-round technical knockout to retain the WBA (Regular) lightweight title and improve to 28-0.
Ryan Garcia also boasts a perfect professional record of 23-0, with his most recent win coming over Javier Fortuna by sixth-round knockout in July.
Before that, Garcia defeated Emmanuel Tagoe in April 2022 by unanimous decision in what was his first fight in over 15 months.
Garcia had taken some time off to focus on his mental health, but he has been better than ever in two fights since returning and was shaping up to be the toughest opponent of Davis' career thus far.
On Monday, Golden Boy Promotions founder and legendary boxer Oscar De La Hoya told Coppinger that negotiations were "down at the 1-yard line."
De La Hoya acknowledged that the rematch clause was an issue, expressing his belief that the winning side should be in control of a rematch.
Davis is promoted by PBC and fights on Showtime, both of which would be in control of the first bout, but they also want to promote and air a rematch regardless of who wins.
