Media Review: Ryan Garcia, the Q-word, and all the takes and opinions nobody really needs to hear | Boxing News

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IT’S BEEN a while, but we’re back to discussing the Q-word. After Ryan Garcia was stopped by a body shot from Gervonta Davis in their recent high-profile clash, questions were raised over whether or not the young star could have beaten the count and continued the fight. His reaction to the finishing shot was slightly delayed, with Garcia taking a beat before doubling over. After the loss, reports emerged that Garcia was carrying some sort of rib injury into the fight, which may have played a part in the defeat.

As is now the case within boxing, once something even somewhat questionable happens, everyone who gets a microphone or camera pointed in their face is asked about it. Promoter Eddie Hearn told Fight Hub TV that “you can’t say [Garcia] didn’t quit.” Tim Bradley, appearing on the ESPN show ‘Max on Boxing’ said: “It would have taken a dog to get up from that shot. You’ve got to be a dog, and people appreciate a dog inside the ring. It’s what you signed up for.

“Yes, he could have gotten up. What it comes down to is ‘what are you doing this for?’ because that changes your perception when you’re in that ring.

“This is the fight that [Garcia] wanted. This is the fight that you barked up. You’ve got to show up, you’ve got to show out and you’ve got to put it all on the line.”

Canelo Alvarez, a former stablemate of Garcia, also intimated that Ryan should have beaten the count and carried on fighting. Barry McGuigan – via his column in the Mirror – was one of the few to come to Garcia’s defence and insist that he didn’t take the easy way out of the fight.

Those are just a few examples of people chiming into the debate. There are countless others.

In the case of Canelo and McGuigan, their input makes more sense. Canelo, as mentioned, used to train alongside Garcia and so his opinion on the fight has relevance – and that’s without taking into account he’s the sport’s biggest star. McGuigan was writing a weekly column just days after the Davis-Garcia fight when there was a lot of discourse surrounding the finish, so it tracks that he would address the issue.

The slight problem is that interviewers and journalists feel the need to drag out the conversation and bring in any voices they can, even if they have no discernible connection to the fight in question.

It is, frankly, lazy and brings very little value. It also happens far too often – when there are developments within one corner of boxing, folks from every other corner are then asked about it, despite looking from the outside in like the rest of us.

In this particular instance the conversation can also be damaging. This isn’t the first time the topic of quitting in a fight has been raised and it won’t be the last, but the lack of nuance when talking about it is striking. None of us – whether we’ve had 100 professional fights or zero – know what was going through Garcia’s mind and body in those moments after Davis had sunk a vicious shot into his solar plexus. That’s where the discussion should end.

The insinuation from those saying that Garcia “quit” is that he is a lesser fighter for doing so and this is the potentially dangerous part of the conversation. There is an already toxic notion within boxing that fighters should always go out on their shield and completely disregard their health and wellbeing. To even step through those ropes takes a level of courage that most of us cannot even fathom. Questioning the resolve of the men and women who do so is reductive and unfair.

Every time this sort of public discourse takes place it provides an example for fighters to see what would happen if they supposedly put their health first: they would be questioned and vilified. That just isn’t right.

There should be a quick tip of the hat to Conor Benn, who remains embroiled in controversy of his own following two failed drug tests last year. After a scorched-earth PR strategy that saw Benn insist he would never fight in the UK again nor cooperate with the British Boxing Board of Control, he has now walked some of his comments back.

Benn had spoken to Boxing News about this very issue but also sat down with channels like SecondsOut, to outwardly apologise for some of those things he said and clarified that he does in fact want to fight in his home country again.

While we still don’t know for sure whether or not he knowingly ingested banned substances, he has at least realised his mistake in making some of the comments he did and publicly apologised for them. This hopefully means there will be further cooperation with the likes of the Board and UKAD to bring about some sort of conclusive resolution to this ongoing saga.

Broadcasts

There were contrasting broadcasts over the weekend. On the one hand there was DAZN, who delivered a blockbuster event from Mexico with the homecoming of Canelo, who outpointed John Ryder. Then there was Sky Sports, who presented a much smaller affair from Birmingham headlined by a somewhat lacklustre performance from Joshua Buatsi.

It’s unfair to compare the two given the names involved. The focus here is on Sky, who continue to uphold high production standards but have suffered from some weak cards as of late.

They have an exciting roster of British talent, including Buatsi, and it will be interesting to see if there is increased effort to match these fighters against each other instead of against relatively unknown international opposition. The upcoming clash between Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith would suggest so, which is something to be excited about.

Boxing on the Box

May 12

Ellis Zorro-Hosea Burton

BT Sport 1

Coverage begins at 7pm

May 14

Zhanibek Alimkhanuly-Steven Butler

Sky Sports Action

Coverage begins at 1am