Gervonta Davis Is About to Find Out If Size Really Matters as He Takes on Mario Barrios
Mario Barrios will have all the physical advantages over Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
The 5-foot-11 Barrios is five inches taller, has a much wider frame and a longer reach. He has also been fighting as a 140-pounder for the past five years while this will be Davis’ first fight in the weight class.
When they weighed in on Friday, Davis had to crane his neck skyward to make eye contact with Barrios. That’s how pronounced the size difference is.
But the way Davis sees it, Barrios has made a big mistake accepting his challenge. Whether Davis is right will be known soon enough when he challenge Barrios for his secondary junior welterweight belt on Saturday (Showtime PPV, 9 p.m., $74.99) at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, a second home to Baltimore’s Davis.
“I think he is making a mistake,” Davis said this week. “It’s not just the height. He thinks he’s stronger than me, so we are just going to have to wait and see. If he believes that I’ve never seen anyone like him, then so be it. But they always learn on fight night. That’s when the real me comes out.”
Davis, who holds titles at junior lightweight and lightweight, is moving up in weight in an effort to claim a belt in a third division, although it is only the secondary variety. But that does not diminish the intrigue of seeing if Davis, one of boxing’s most exciting fighters and biggest attractions, can bring his explosive knockout power to a bigger division.
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“I’ve been working each and every day in the gym to become a better fighter for Saturday night,” said Davis, who is coming off a spectacular sixth-round knockout of Leo Santa Cruz in October in a dual junior lightweight/lightweight title bout contracted 130 pounds that marked Davis’ first pay-per-view as a headliner. “I can’t wait to see the performance I put on. Moving up to 140 is definitely a great opportunity. I’m looking forward to it and I’m ready to give the fans what they want to see, which is a great fight.”
Barrios is not nearly as battle tested as Davis but sounded confident.
“I have all of the tools and I have the size to present a lot of difficulties to Tank, and that’s what I plan on doing,” Barrios said. “Both of us throw with bad intentions. We’re in there to hurt and take out our opponent. May the best man win whether it is round 1 or round 12.
Gervonta “Tank Davis is going to learn what it’s like to be in there with the type of fighter that I am. Buy your tickets and order the pay-per-view. I know he’s ready and we had a great camp in the Bay Area. We’re both coming with it on Saturday.”
While Davis (24-0, 23 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw, has dominated his opponents at 130 and 135 pounds, it remains to be seen what he can do at 140 pounds. Barrios, however, has had his struggles.
Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs), 26, claimed the vacant secondary belt by highly controversial decision over Batyr Akhmedov — who will fight on the undercard in a title eliminator — in September 2019 before knocking out Ryan Karl in the sixth round in his first defense last October on the Davis-Santa Cruz undercard in his hometown of San Antonio.
Davis figures to a far more difficult opponent that Akhmedov and certainly Karl, but Barrios said he is up to the task.
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“No doubt about it, Tank is by far the toughest test for another title defense and I’m going to do whatever it takes to be successful,” said Barrios, who is trained by Virgil Hunter. “This is a huge opportunity and I’m very excited for this chance. This is a very winnable fight for me, regardless of what everyone has been saying. I think it’s not going to be until we both get in the ring that people realize how much size I really have for 140 pounds. Somehow, he’s still the favorite although he’s the challenger in this fight. I just take that as more motivation for me.
“Height-wise, reach. Those are the major advantages. I’m just as dangerous as he is. And just as explosive and just as fast. And I will show that on fight night. “
He said he was surprised Davis agreed to come up to 140 pounds to fight him, but was pleased by the decision.
“When they came to me, I said let’s do it but I was like, ‘I’m not going down to 135,’ and they said, ‘Nah, he’s going to come up.’ And I said, ‘Even better,’” Barrios said. “I didn’t take too much from the Leo Santa Cruz fight. I felt (Davis) fought him the way he did because he didn’t respect Santa Cruz’s power. But with our fight he’s going to have no choice and he’s not going to fight me the way he fought Santa Cruz. I’ve been boxing just as long as he has and I have an excellent boxing IQ, just as he has. It only takes one punch to change a fight, and he definitely has that one punch. But I’ll find out if that power carries over to 140 pounds.”
Davis is confident his power will go up the scale with him and he will prevail, which will leave him with an interesting situation — remain at junior welterweight or return to lightweight, where he has had some issues making weight but where there are some very big potential fights against the likes of unified champion Teofimo Lopez, titleholder Devin Haney or fellow big attraction Ryan Garcia.
“It’s going to surprise him when I connect,” said Davis, who is trained by Calvin Ford. “It’s not only that I hit hard, but it’s where I place my punches and he will see that. I’m going up two weight classes to face him. If they don’t give me the respect after this, I don’t know what I have to do. It’s pretty cool. This is actually the first time I’m fighting at this weight class. Whatever opportunities they give me at 135, or 140, I’ll take them.”
