Gervonta “Tank” Davis defeated “King” Ryan Garcia by a body shot in the seventh round of their thrilling lightweight clash that was the main event of a SHOWTIME PPV production Saturday night from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in an event presented by Premier Boxing Champions.
After a cautious first round, Garcia started the second round with a flurry of punches, trying to catch Davis with his powerful left hook. But Davis was ready for him, and dodged a hook from Garcia before landing a devastating left hook of his own that sent Garcia to the canvas. Garcia got up, but he was more cautious after that.
Davis said he knew how to exploit Garcia’s weakness. “He didn’t know his placement. He was too tall and he came up with his head up. My coach told me to shoot over the top. That’s what I did.”
Garcia admitted he made a mistake. “I should have pressured him more when he was on the ropes. I gave him too much respect and that cost me. He’s a good fighter, but I think I can beat him.”
Davis targeted Garcia’s body with his punches, landing 18 body shots according to CompuBox. Both fighters were accurate with their power punches, with Davis at 48% and Garcia at 42%. Davis was ahead on all three judges’ scorecards when he stopped Garcia with a body shot in the seventh round. He claimed he was the best boxer in the world.
“I’m the face of boxing,” said Davis. “No doubt about it!”
“It was an amazing experience,” said Davis. “I was happy to be part of this event. I remember watching Floyd Mayweather fight at MGM Grand when I was in the Golden Gloves. It was unbelievable. I just saw Rihanna perform at the Super Bowl, and I thought, ‘I want to be like that.’ And now we’re here. The dream is real. But I’m not done yet until I retire, so I’m going to keep working hard, stay humble and continue to grind.”
“I’m fine,” said Garcia. “‘Tank’ is a great fighter. I respect him a lot. I know we talked a lot of trash before the fight, but he knows what’s up. It’s all love at the end of the day. I was honored to share the ring with a great fighter and I respect him a lot. You know how the business goes. But I want to say to ‘Tank’, you’re a good man.”
After years of anticipation, two of boxing’s most exciting and popular fighters delivered a toe-to-toe battle in front of a packed crowd of 20,842, with the three-time, five-division champion Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) coming out on top after landing a devastating left hand to the body that made Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) wince and eventually kneel.
“I didn’t expect that body shot to end it, but I saw his face and that’s what made me go after him,” said Davis. “It was a good shot, for sure. I thought he was going to get up but I like to play mind games, so when he was looking at me, I was looking at him trying to tell him, ‘get up!’ And he just shook his head, no.”
“He just got me with a good shot,” said Garcia. “I don’t want to make any excuses here. He got me.”
