Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Ryan Garcia both promised to break each other’s jaw as the war of words exploded ahead of their eagerly-anticipated clash.
The lightweight blockbuster has captivated sport fans across the globe given the duo remain undefeated and have traded verbal barbs for months on end.
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Despite both men admitting the time for talking was over, that notion quickly went out the window at their official press conference.
Unsurprisingly, Davis and Garcia each claimed they would send their opposite number tumbling to the canvas as well as a trip to the surgeon to mend a broken jaw.
“I touch that jaw, I’m telling you, you’re going to sleep,” Davis said.
“I promise you. Once I touch that jaw, you’re going to sleep. I probably break your jaw. Facts.”
Garcia replied: “I feel like I’m going to break your jaw with the hook. I just see you on the floor with a broken jaw.”
Davis emphatically fired back: “I’m going to break your jaw, I promise you. Don’t even bring your mother or your daughter. Don’t bring them. Don’t bring them. I’m telling you, don’t bring them.”
Garcia later went on to guarantee Davis’ career would “come to a halt” once their business is settled in the ring.
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“You walked into the wrong guy here,” Garcia said.
“The things you got away with before, they’re catching up to you. This is the moment where everything catches up to you in every way, trust me.
“Saturday, everything, your whole career is going to come to a halt. Not finished, you’ll be able to come back a good man, but trust me, everything comes to a halt on Saturday night.
“You’re finished and you’re going to have a lot to think about. Trust me.”
It wasn’t just Garcia and Davis going at it on the microphones, either.
Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya and Leonard Ellerbe, who promote Garcia and Davis respectively, teed off and took aim at the fighters’ camps.
“I look at Ryan and I know he’s ready,” De La Hoya said.
“I look at Ryan’s team and they know he’s ready. I look at Tank and he looks ready. But when I look at Tank’s team’s actions throughout the whole promotion, I am left to wonder, do these guys really think he’s ready?
“Catchweights and rehydration clauses, late afternoon weigh-ins, all of these small, petty requirements points to a team that looks to protect their fighter.
“And why would they protect their fighter unless they don’t think, ‘Maybe he’s not ready for this moment?’
“I really believe that Tank’s team is worried he is going to lose, and when you’re a fighter, nothing feels worse than your team not believing you.”
Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, immediately refuted De La Hoya’s claim, stating they “believe in Tank 1000 per cent” and that given they were the A-side of the bout, they had every right to insert certain clauses into the contract.
Things then quickly turned spicy.
“Like I said, you’ve been sleeping under the f***ing wheel for many, many years,” Ellerbe said.
“That’s exactly why we took all of your f***ing fighters, Floyd beat them all.
“It’s going to be no different come this Saturday night. Tank Davis by KO, like I’ve been saying, and it might be early.”
