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- 🥊 Tank Opens The Year
🥊 Tank Opens The Year
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.
Every Friday We Bring You:
A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.
Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.
Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.
How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.
Fight News From Around The 🌍
Tune Up or Banana Peel?
2023 kicks off with Davis vs Garcia, but not the type most boxing fans were looking forward to. Instead the Baltimore native will take on Super Featherweight world champion and former Olympian Hector Luis García.
Despite being a fully fledged world champion at 130 lbs, as well as a skilled and disciplined southpaw in his own right, García is best known for his upset win over Chris Colbert back in early 2022. Whilst this fight is a tune up for Davis ahead of his fight with the more higher profile Garcia later this year, the Dominican García is no slouch and will be looking to derail lucrative superfight by giving Davis all he can handle.
Davis will be looking to put his recent turbulent personal life to one side and remind the boxing world exactly why he is considered one of the most talented and exciting boxers in the sport.
It's not often you get fighters who are able to display both a high boxing IQ (as he did against Rolly Romero and Isaac Cruz) and devastating knockout power (he has 25 of his 27 wins coming by way of KO).
This combination makes him one of boxings star attractions, and is one half of the formula that'll carry the PPV card between him and Ryan Garcia. But to get there, he can't look past this weekend, and the dangerous current world champion (albeit at a lower weight class) that is in front of him.
What to look for in the fight:
Power. García has never competed higher than 130 lbs in his professional career, and he is coming up against one of the hardest punchers across 130-140 lbs. If he has trouble adjusting to the power discrepancy, it could spell problems for him. Having said this, he hasn't touched the canvas as a pro or amateur.
Activity. This'll be García's 3rd fight in 11 months, so he is fresh and active. Contrast this with Tank's lower activity and you could see the possibility of the fight going the distance, especially if García acclimates well to the weight.
Straight left. García likes to circle to his right after throwing combinations. Gervonta could look to time this as he did with Rolly Romeros predictable movements and unleash another devastating left hand.
Fun fact: Gervonta Davis averages the fewest punches thrown per round in boxing, but his knockout percantage ranks as the third best amongst active world champions.(per Compubox)
Boots Is Hunting For Big Names
Jaron "Boots" Ennis serves as the co-main event, where he will take on Karen Chukhadzhian for the IBF interim welterweight championship and one would presume a mandatory shot at the current full title holder Errol Spence Jr.
Ennis is one of the most prodigiously talented boxers in the whole sport, who at still only 25 years old, will probably grow into a multi weight world champion. In the absence of a brash, box office personality or a huge following, he has let his talent do the talking, racking up 29 wins, with 27 coming by way of KO.
It's taken him more than a lot of boxing analysts would have thought, but 2023 could be his breakout year, either taking on the winner of the eventual Spence vs Crawford fight, or potentially picking up a vacant belt should either move up.
A Good Friend Drops By
Teddy and Ken were joined on the podcast by his friend and ESPN colleague Stephen A Smith, who brought his brilliant commentary style to the show. They discussed their respective 2023 Boxing and UFC wish lists, as well as the overall state of both sports.
Check out the full episode by clicking below.
Fight ⏰ for this weekend
Boxing: Davis vs García (Saturday 7th/Sunday 8th)
🇺🇸 Full Card: 10pm Eastern/ 7pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific
🇬🇧 Full Card: 3am | Main Event: 4am
🇦🇺 Full Card: 2pm Eastern/ 12pm Western | Main event: 3pm Eastern/ 1pm Western