Mikey Garcia Picks Lomachenko Over Gervonta Davis at Their Best

Mikey Garcia has landed on a pick for the lightweight superfight boxing keeps circling back to: Gervonta Davis versus Vasiliy Lomachenko. Speaking with About Boxing, the four-division former world champion said that if the two met at 135 with both at their peak, he'd take Loma — because, in his words, nobody beats a prime Lomachenko given the skills and the footwork.

It's not a clean pick, though. Garcia immediately hedged, and the reason is sitting on Davis's résumé: a 30-0-1 record with 28 knockouts and a #3 lightweight ranking. Tank's power and patience, Garcia noted, mean one clean shot can flip any fight. That's the whole tension of this matchup — pure skill against a puncher who only needs a single opening.

The fight has been dangled in front of fans for years. Both men have spent long stretches as the standout names at lightweight, and every time the division's marquee bout gets floated, their names surface. Lomachenko's retirement last June looked like it had buried the idea for good.

Two Comebacks, One Possible Collision

Now both are plotting returns, which is why the conversation is alive again. Davis hasn't fought since March 2025 — a majority draw with Lamont Roach Jr. that still sits as the lone blemish on his record — with legal issues keeping him sidelined since. He's reportedly eyeing a comeback either late this year or early in 2027.

Lomachenko's plan is more specific. The Ukrainian wants the one thing that's eluded him: undisputed status. And the clearest path now runs through super-featherweight, one division north of where a Davis fight would logically happen.

Garcia didn't ignore the obvious variable. He wondered aloud whether we'll actually see the same Lomachenko after a year away, acknowledging the layoff cuts both ways — it could reignite the fire, or the age could finally show. Those are questions, he admitted, that only get answered on fight night.

What Loma Has to Do First

Before any Tank fantasy, there's real business. Lomachenko is expected to face Charly Suarez on his return. The Filipino is unbeaten at 19-0 with 11 knockouts and ranked #8 at super-featherweight, coming off a first-round stoppage of Manuel Ávila. Suarez was originally lined up as mandatory challenger for Emanuel Navarrete's unified titles before that picture shifted.

The rejig points Navarrete toward a three-belt unification with O'Shaquie Foster instead. Navarrete, 40-2-1 with 33 KOs and holding the IBF and WBO straps at 130 after an 11th-round stoppage of Eduardo Núñez, remains the anchor of the division's title mess.

That's the practical problem with Davis-Lomachenko: the two men aren't even operating in the same weight class right now. Loma's ambitions live at 130, Davis's history is at 135, and both have live assignments ahead before anyone books the dream fight.

Still, Garcia's verdict frames it well. At their absolute best, he called both men the class of lightweight — and the fact that he leaned Loma while refusing to write off Tank's power tells you exactly how thin the margins would be.

For now, it stays a hypothetical. But with both fighters lacing up again in the coming months, the door Lomachenko's retirement seemed to slam shut is at least propped open. Whether it opens all the way depends on whether either man can navigate the fights actually in front of them.