There’s no doubt Baltimore’s 28-year old lightweight contender and former Jr. lightweight titlist Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KO) is a star. His ticket sales from coast to coast are all the evidence anyone needs of that.

This Saturday (Showtime PPV, 8 PM EST), after a 2022 campaign where he only got to scratch once, Davis will tackle the first of what could be two tough assignments in the first half of the new year. Defending the WBA’s secondary version of the lightweight title, Davis will face 31-year old WBA 130 lb. titlist Hector Luis Garcia (16-0, 10 KO) in what would be an interesting fight in a vacuum. Garcia is the number two ranked Jr. lightweight by both TBRB and Ring Magazine, only one class below Davis. 

This fight is not happening in a vacuum. 

Davis-Garcia happening in the shadow of a potential superfight with 24-year old Ryan Garcia (23-0, 19 KO) in what should be one of the richest bouts in boxing this year. The recent allegations of and Davis’s arrest for domestic violence, an accusation the victim has since recanted on, didn’t alter any fight dates. For fans who have remained skeptical of Davis’s opposition, there’s not much to argue with in the current plans. 

There’s been less to argue about in general in the last couple years generally. 

Prior to a bout with the inexperienced by talkative Rolly Romero last year, a predictable but still entertaining knockout win, Davis had started to marry the potential he showed in eviscerating Jose Pedraza in 2017 to tougher fare. Three straight wins against fighters ranked in the TBRB or Ring top ten’s from featherweight to Jr. welterweight (Leo Santa Cruz, Mario Barrios, and Issac Cruz) were progress. 

What we’re looking at for the first half of this year is a fighter who believes he’s at the peak of his powers and ready to finish a well-built product. In his first fight without Mayweather Promotions, Davis is coming back to the Mid-Atlantic as the first headliner at the Capitol One Arena in Washington, DC since Mike Tyson-Kevin McBride. 

DC can be a good fight town, with several memorable shows in the decade before COVID at the Armory or MGM Grand. The big arena hasn’t come into play. It takes a real gate attraction for that one. Davis has become one of the biggest in the United States.

The table is set to move to another level as this year progresses. The Hector Garcia fight will make its money but the real destination is “King” Ryan. That Garcia is the sort of opponent who, with the full weight of promotion at play, can give Davis the opportunity to elevate his numbers on pay-per-view from dependable star to the sort of superstar who can push eight figure events closer to nine.      

That doesn’t happen overnight.

It didn’t for Mayweather. It didn’t for Oscar De La Hoya. Those fighters all did good numbers on pay-per-view, establishing themselves as an attraction that costs extra, before finding the opponent who could capture the imagination of the public. Oscar had Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, and finally Felix Trinidad. Mayweather had De La Hoya and never looked back. Ryan Garcia might not have the established name of either but his social media following and the buzz their fight will generate will likely see the winner explode as the concrete cash centerpiece near their weights.

The revenue Davis has generated so far already puts him ahead of peers like undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney in that regard but Davis is not a rainmaker yet like those stars before him. Davis can get there. His whole career appears to have been designed around getting there before getting to the legacy fights that will define what it all meant. 

Davis just has to win one at a time for now.

This weekend, Davis will face a genuine obstacle. Hector Garcia is coming off an outstanding campaign with a stunning, one-sided whooping of Chris Colbert and a lopsided decision over veteran Roger Gutierrez. He’s tough, skilled, and still unknown enough not to be sure what he might be able to do. His height and frame say the move up the scale will be of minimal import against Davis.  

This is a real fight with a really big fight waiting and plenty of time for one more scrap before 2023 is over if Davis wins both. The table is set for Gervonta Davis to reach the next level of stardom.

Hector Garcia is waiting to derail those plans. 

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com