A world title shot could be in store for the winner of the PBC on Prime Video Prelims main event Saturday, March 30, ahead of the stacked Thurman vs. Tszyu Pay-Per-View.
Garcia vs Resendiz HIGHLIGHTS: September 30, 2023 | PBC on Showtime PPV
Elijah Garcia is well aware of the type of opportunity that awaits him if he beats Kyrone Davis Saturday, March 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Garcia recognizes that is hardly a coincidence that his 10-round fight versus Davis has been placed on the same Premier Boxing Champions card as the 160-pound championship bout between WBA Middleweight World Champ Erislandy Lara and mandatory challenger Michael Zerafa. The 20-year-old Garcia is ranked second among the WBA’s middleweight contenders and if he defeated Davis presumably would move into the top spot presently occupied by Zerafa.
Challenging the Lara-Zerafa winner would grant Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs) the chance to complete his ambitious goal of becoming a world champion by the time he is 21. Garcia realizes, though, that the “crafty” Davis is capable and experienced enough to upset him if Garcia doesn’t remain fully focused on this task.
“Fighting these 50-50 fights, keeping me mentally humble, I think that’s what’s taken me a couple steps further,” Garcia said during a virtual press conference Tuesday. “You know, so I just gotta stay ready, stay prepared and keep training the way I’ve been training. I know it’s gonna be a tough fight.”
The strong southpaw won three tough fights in 2023 to establish himself as a legitimate middleweight contender. Garcia upset previously unbeaten Uruguayan veteran Amilcar Vidal (18-1, 14 KOs), stopping him in the fourth round, outpointed Mexico’s Kevin Salgado (16-2-1, 11 KOs) in a 10-rounder and stopped another Mexican, Armando Resendiz (14-2, 10 KOs), in the eighth round during a highly successful six-month span that concluded September 30 on the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo undercard at T-Mobile Arena.
Garcia will face Davis (18-3-1, 6 KOs), of Wilmington, Delaware, in the second of two fights PBC will offer on Prime Video before the pay-per-view portion of the Keith Thurman-Tim Tszyu undercard begins at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). The two fights on Prime Video, scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT), will be available for free to viewers even if they don’t have Prime memberships or purchase PBC’s inaugural pay-per-view show distributed by Prime Video.
Davis, 29, is thankful that he’ll have an entire training camp to prepare for Garcia, unlike his last fight again an unbeaten opponent when he accepted the daunting assignment of boxing David Benavidez on barely two weeks’ notice because Benavidez’s original opponent, Jose Uzcategui, tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
A brave Davis moved up to the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds to battle Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), who stopped Davis during the seventh round of their November 2021 bout.
“We’re taking him seriously,” Davis said. “You know, he’s a force. But definitely it’s a difference when you come to like – if we speed up four weeks from now and say I found out about the fight four weeks from now, that’s literally the situation I was in when I fought Benavidez. So, it’s a different mindset. It’s definitely different preparation. It’s a different fight, so you know, we’re preparing ourselves for whatever, you know, could come up. You know, it’s really polar opposites when you come to what the situation is.”
“ I know it’s gonna be a tough fight. ” Undefeated Middleweight Contender - Elijah Garcia
Davis is 2-0 since Benavidez beat him, yet against far less dangerous fighters than Garcia, of Wittmann, Arizona. Garcia conquered competition comparable to Davis in 2023, though he feels defeating a fighter equipped with Davis’ versatility will help prepare him for a title shot against Cuba’s Lara (29-3-3, 17 KOs) or Australia’s Zerafa (31-4, 19 KOs).
“To fight Kyrone, I feel like it’s a good test,” Garcia said. “I feel like it’s gonna be another key factor, that experience that I’m lacking, you know, for when the time comes when we do fight for a world title. You know, I’m just blessed, and you know, I feel like I deserved it. I worked real hard for it.”
The free portion of Prime Video’s stream will begin with a 12-round, 112-pound championship clash in which WBC Flyweight World Champion Julio Cesar Martinez makes an optional defense of his title against Angelino Cordova.
Venezuela’s Cordova, who resides in Roselle Park, New Jersey, is the WBC’s 14th-ranked contender for Martinez’s championship. Mexico’s Martinez (20-2, 15 KOs, 2 NC) is nevertheless treating Cordova as seriously as the most formidable of foes.
“Look, no opponent is easy, and no opponent will ever come with a defeatist mindset, thinking that they can’t win,” Martinez said. “If they’re here, it’s for a reason. And look, in my case, before this I wanted to try to unify titles with [Jesse] ‘Bam’ Rodriguez. And that didn’t happen. I do have the mindset of defending my title once again. And when I unify, I wanna go places. But as far as Angelino goes, I know he’s not gonna be easy. And he’s here for a reason.”
Martinez, 29, and Cordova, 28, were initially scheduled to meet December 16 at The Armory in Minneapolis. Their fight was hastily postponed at the 11th hour because Martinez couldn’t obtain a visa to enter the United States from Guadalajara.
Cordova (18-0-1, 12 KOs) was “disgusted” and “blindsided” when he learned the night before he was scheduled to weigh in December 15 that Martinez was unable to enter the U.S. for their fight. The challenger blamed Martinez’s team, not Martinez himself, for failing to secure his visa before fight week.
Two months later, Cordova appreciates that their title bout has been rescheduled, and on a higher-profile card.
“I don’t mean to put anything down, not my previous opponents, not Martinez, who has the belt right now,” Cordova said. “But Julio Cesar has the belt that I want – bottom line, that’s it. I could not be more motivated to come in and take it all away from him. … It’s time to pull off the upset. I feel ready. I feel primed to earn that world title.”
For a closer look at the Thurman vs Tszyu card, check out our fight night page.
