Ryan Garcia revealed to his trainer in the immediate aftermath of his knockout loss to Gervonta Davis that his injured rib prevented him from continuing in the seventh round of their fight April 22 in Las Vegas.
In footage Showtime released Saturday as part of its “ALL ACCESS: DAVIS VS. GARCIA EPILOGUE,” Garcia can be heard confirming to Joe Goossen that his rib injury kept him from getting off one knee after Davis’ left to the body sent him down. Referee Thomas Taylor counted out Garcia at 1:44 of the seventh round in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event a week ago at T-Mobile Arena.
Goossen, who suspected his fighter’s injured rib played a factor in the outcome, asked Garcia, “Did it hit that rib part at all, Ryan?”
Garcia replied, “Yeah,” to which Goossen responded, “I knew it.”
An honest Garcia then divulged, “I didn’t wanna continue because of my rib. But it’s OK. I don’t wanna make excuses.”
Goossen tried to console his boxer by stating, “No, no, no. Let me tell you something, that type of shot is a hard [one to overcome]. You’d rather get hit on the chin.”
Garcia agreed.
“Yeah,” Garcia said, “I woulda rather get hit on the chin.”
Davis’ counter left to Garcia’s chin first knocked him to the seat of his trunks with 1:01 remaining in the second round. Garcia got up quickly from that short shot on the inside, but he couldn’t continue in the seventh round.
Junior lightweight prospect Tsendbaatar Erdenebat revealed on social media after Garcia’s loss that he badly hurt Garcia in a sparring session with a left to the same side of his body that Davis drilled him. Garcia accused Erdenebat, a two-time Olympian from Mongolia, of leaking information to Davis’ team, but Erdenebat denied that he was the mole in Garcia’s camp to whom Davis and his handlers referred during fight week.
The 24-year-old Garcia, of Victorville, California, suffered his first professional defeat (23-1, 19 KOs) to Baltimore’s Davis, who improved to 29-0 and produced his 27th knockout.
The third “ALL ACCESS” episode for Davis-Garcia is scheduled to premiere on Showtime after the premium cable network’s replay of the Davis-Garcia fight Saturday night at 9 p.m. EDT/PDT. It is already available on Showtime Sports’ YouTube channel.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.