Ryan Garcia Calls For Tank Davis Rematch On Three-Year Anniversary — "I Need That One Back"

• Garcia posted "I pray I get my rematch with Tank one day. I need that one back on even grounds, I need that!!" on the three-year anniversary of his April 2023 stoppage loss
• Garcia wants the fight at 140 or 147 with no rehydration clause — neither condition existed in the original Las Vegas catchweight bout
• Davis is in WBA "champion in recess" status and hasn't fought since the March 2025 Lamont Roach majority draw

The Anniversary And The Callout

Make no mistake, this is not a casual social media tweet. Garcia chose the date deliberately. April 22, 2023 was the night Tank Davis caught him with a body shot in round seven and Garcia took a knee. The fight did 1.2 million pay-per-view buys in the United States — a number nobody on the lightweight or 140-pound landscape has come close to in the three years since. Three years on, Garcia is the WBC welterweight champion. Tank Davis is a fighter on indefinite hiatus. Garcia's exact words: "I pray I get my rematch with Tank one day. I need that one back on even grounds, I need that!!" That phrase — "even grounds" — is doing all the work. The 2023 fight was at a 136-pound catchweight with a rehydration clause that Garcia has spent three years arguing left him physically depleted on the night. The ringside numbers and his post-fight interviews have always told the same story — he believes the loss was as much about the contract as it was about the punch.

Where Garcia Sits Now

Garcia (27-1, 22 KOs) has done exactly what a fighter trying to manufacture leverage for a rematch should do. He moved up to 140 and won the WBA mandatory against Mario Barrios in February of this year, taking the WBC welterweight strap on a clean unanimous decision. He's beaten Devin Haney in 2024, then taken a year of decompression and personal rebuild, and now he's a sitting world champion at 147 with a credible title defence behind him. For a man who, eighteen months ago, was being written off as a meme-merchant who couldn't keep his life together, that's a proper turnaround. He's clean, he's training, he's sober as far as everyone close to him says, and he's fighting at his natural weight rather than draining down. If you know, you know — this is the version of Ryan Garcia the sport always wanted to see.

Where Tank Sits Now

The other side of the story is uglier. Gervonta Davis hasn't fought since the controversial Lamont Roach majority draw in March 2025. The WBA, after months of stalling, finally moved him to "champion in recess" status in January, which is sanctioning-body code for "we still recognise you, but we're not making you defend." His Florida legal situation rumbles on, his trainer Calvin Ford keeps insisting a comeback is months away, and yet not one date, opponent or venue has been announced. Now Floyd Schofield has filed a formal petition with the WBA demanding Davis either face him or vacate. The pressure on Tank is real and it's coming from every angle — the ranking organisations, the courts, his promoter. He has to fight someone in 2026.

Why The Garcia Fight Makes Sense Now

Let's not beat around the bush — for Tank Davis, a Garcia rematch is the single most lucrative fight on the planet right now. Bigger than Shakur. Bigger than Lopez. Bigger than any 135-pound mandatory the WBA can wave at him. The first fight did 1.2 million PPV buys with Garcia going in as the betting underdog. With Garcia now a world champion at 147, the rematch sells even harder. For Garcia, the timing is perfect too. He's at a natural weight he can make comfortably. Tank, if he comes back, is unlikely to want to drain to 135 again — he's said as much in two separate podcast appearances over the last twelve months. A 140 catchweight with no rehydration clause is the obvious meeting point. Garcia gets the rematch he's been demanding for three years, Tank gets the biggest payday of his career, and the sport gets a stadium-level fight in Las Vegas, Saudi Arabia, or Wembley.

The Obstacles

Three things stand in the way. First, Tank's legal situation has to clear. Until the Florida case is resolved, you can't sell tickets to a major event. Second, the promotional alignment is messy — Garcia is now Golden Boy/PBC adjacent, Davis is locked into Mayweather Promotions and PBC. The PBC plumbing makes the fight technically possible, but every Tank fight needs Floyd Mayweather Sr's say-so, and Floyd has historically had no interest in giving Garcia an honest rematch. Third, and this is the real one — Tank Davis has never shown any genuine interest in fighting Ryan Garcia again. Why would he? He's already won that fight, banked the cheque, and walked out with a brand-cementing knockout on his record. The only thing pushing him back is money and circumstance, and right now he doesn't need money — he needs a clear court schedule.

Luke's Read

Make no mistake, this rematch will happen. The economics are too obvious, the WBA is forcing the issue at 135, and Garcia is a more valuable opponent at 147 than he was at 136. The question is when, not if. My call — Q1 2027, Riyadh Season, with Turki Alalshikh writing the cheque that makes it happen and a 140-pound catchweight with no rehydration penalty. On the rematch itself? Garcia at 140 with a clean head and a proper camp is a different fighter to the one who walked into that body shot in 2023. He's bigger, stronger, and significantly more disciplined. Tank's power travels — the man stops everyone he hits cleanly — but Garcia's hand speed, his jab, and his improved defensive shape under his current camp give him a real puncher's chance. I'd have it as a coin flip with Garcia getting more competitive in the second half once Tank's legs go. But that's a 2027 conversation. For now, Garcia has done his job. He's put the fight on the table publicly, dated it to the anniversary, and made it impossible for the sport to pretend the rematch isn't waiting. The ball is in Tank's court. And the WBA, the courts, and his own bank account are about to start kicking it.

The Verdict

Ryan Garcia is not the fighter he was three years ago. He's a world champion now, fighting at his natural weight, calling out the man who beat him from a position of strength. That's exactly the move. Tank Davis can stall, ignore, or laugh it off — but the longer he sits on the sidelines, the more the conversation tilts in Garcia's favour. The rematch is coming. It just won't be in 2026. Brilliant move from Garcia. Right place, right time, right anniversary. Now we wait for Tank to get out of the courthouse and back into the gym.