Garcia fought very well in winning round one and was easily on his way to adding round two to his side when Davis slipped Garcia's right hand and countered with a left that sent Garcia to the canvas.
Garcia wasn't seriously hurt by the knockdown but the fight changed after that as Garcia continued to come forward on Davis but never with the same abandon or aggressiveness as in those two rounds.
With Garcia now respecting the power of Davis, the fight changed subtly as Davis began to counter Garcia more effectively, slipping his jab more often and blunting the more controlled attacks of Garcia, who no longer wished to take chances that could back Davis up but increase the risk of getting hit with power punches.
Garcia would have his occasional moments after round two and the fight was certainly competitive and hard-fought but only the third and sixth rounds were close and while the ending was sudden, it did feel inevitable.
Davis could have several big fights that would be anticipated by boxing fans in the lightweight division, where he is best suited as far as size against the winner of the undisputed lightweight title pairing later this spring between Devin Haley and Vasyl Lomachenko or Shakur Stevenson in what would be a huge fight for the East Coast fan base.
But fights against either man could be difficult to sign with promotional considerations, Davis would have a large size disadvantage against the best junior welterweights, and there isn't really anyone at junior lightweight that would be considered a major fight for Davis.
That leaves Davis as likely to return to facing good fighters that would be heavy underdogs, wouldn't bring him the respect that he craves, and drawing big crowds with sizable paychecks.
Unless Davis is motivated to do business with Top Rank, the best fights for Davis in-house with PBC may be a rematch with Isaac Cruz, who lost via close decision to Davis, or maybe slick boxing Frank Martin, who may be a high risk without a high rate of return.
As for Garcia, he stated that he will stay in the junior welterweight division and there are plenty of fights there for him but with a loss, and a knockout loss that some believe that he could have shown more effort in attempting to continue, Garcia will have to be matched carefully for a fight or two before facing a strong challenge in a big fight.
Garcia's problem is similar to Davis's as a division loaded with talent doesn't have one that is promoted by Garcia's promoter in Golden Boy Promotions.
The WBO title will be with Top Rank, held by the winner of Josh Taylor-Teofimo Lopez, WBC champion Regis Prograis is available but perhaps too dangerous for Garcia right now, IBF king Subriel Matias is promoted by PBC and is a major puncher with a high risk for a fighter coming off a stoppage loss and the WBA title was recently stripped from Alberto Puello and will be fought for between PBC's colorful Rolando Romero and Ismael Barroso.
Adding into the equations former champion Jose Ramirez, veteran contenders Jack Catterall and Jose Zepeda, and undefeated Gary Antuanne Russell and Arnold Barboza, none of which fights for Golden Boy, and it's hard to see Garcia facing a challenge for a while, unless undefeated lightweight contender William Zepeda, who does fight for Golden Boy, could be tempted by a big payday and a chance to defeat Garcia.
In any event, while both fighters are still stars after the fight, I'm struggling to see an avenue that will see either fighter in a test in their next fight unless some rival promotions decide to work together, and since such a fight is likely to lack anywhere near the amount of money made from Davis-Garcia, which is highly unlikely.
I'll be writing about the other boxing challenge fights in a post tonight or tomorrow.
Boxing Challenge
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