How painful is a liver shot? Doctor explains why Ryan Garcia could not recover from Gervonta Davis' punch 

Ryan Garcia took on Gervonta Davis in what was arguably the biggest fight of the year last night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With a lot on the line for both fighters, it was 'Tank' who emerged victorious as he stopped Garcia with a body shot in the seventh-round of the fight.

While the shot might not seem too powerful at first glance, a shot to the liver can shut down your body. As per Dr. Brian Sutterer that seems to have been the case with Garcia.

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Dr. Brian Sutterer explained why 'KingRy' failed to recover from the body shot and said:

"The liver is sitting right behind that rib cage, right up against that area. What that means is whenever this shot comes in here from Davis. the impact is going to first be absorbed by Garcia's rib cage but that force is going to be transmitted further into the body and what's going to take that brunt of that force? The structure being it, within the abdomen in this case with where this punch lands it's in the area of where all the impact is going to go into the liver."

He added:

"Now, a liver shot is really damaging, number one, because of the delayed reaction and number two because delayed reaction is something that physiologically you can't control, that's why we saw Garcia as much as he wanted to get up he truly wasn't able to get up off the canvas. Your body really does just kind of shut down."

Watch the video below:

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DId the rehydration clause play a role in Ryan Garcia's ability to recover from the liver shot?

Going into the Ryan Garcia vs. Gervonta Davis fight, the rehydration clause in the contract was a major topic of controversy. As per the clause, both fighters were not allowed to gain more than 10 lbs after making weight.

While the clause wasn't a problem for Gervonta Davis, it certainly put Ryan Garcia on the back foot as he fights at a higher weight class. Despite this, 'KingRy' agreed to take on 'Tank' but it is hard to pinpoint that as the only reason why he wasn't able to recover from the body shot.

Speaking about the same during the post-fight press conference, Ryan Garcia said:

"I mean, If I'm honest...I didn't feel too good, I mean I felt a little weak, you know, going into the ring, my legs didn't feel too much under me but once the fight got going, you know, it kinda all came together so, I can't really pin that too much. You know what I mean? It is what it is, I signed the contract, and that's that"

Catch Garcia's comments below: