Can anyone beat Gervonta Davis?
Ryan Garcia is a great boxer and he didn’t even come close on Saturday night before 20,842 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, delivering a vicious left kick to the body that sent him to one knee in the process. seventh inning.
Dramatic ending – Davis’ 27lame pants knockout in 29 wins – just a stop to another great all-round performance by the Tank.
Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) isn’t quite as established as some of the elite boxers close to his weight but he’s an excellent, well-educated athlete with a one-shot knockdown power. punch. And Davis has appeased almost everything he tries to do.
The 24-year-old from California aggressively attacked Davis several times in the second half trying to gain control, only for Davis to tie him up each time. Then a short left from Davis puts Garcia down.
Garcia landed some nice forehands in the 6th round, which was probably his best round and gave him hope to turn the tide. Then in the next round, the fight was over.
Garcia’s lauded left hook? It’s as if it didn’t exist.
Davis didn’t beat Garcia but he did beat him convincingly. He outdid him from the second inning on, doing enough to win the rounds, knocking out Garcia twice and scoring an outstanding knock-out while taking barely any penalty himself. any.
The scores – 59-55, 58-56 and 58-56 – seemed to indicate the game was over. Not so. It was another dominating performance from Davis, who went on to establish himself as the best boxer in the world.
“You really don’t know until you actually fight your opponent,” Davis said in the ring afterward. “When I went in there with him, I felt, skill wise, it was [not a good match].”
The knockout is painful to watch.
Davis and Garcia were close together when Davis, in a crouched position, raised his head and thrust his left hand straight into Garcia’s right.
Garcia took a step back and turned slightly, but it didn’t seem like the end of the game. Then he grimaced and fell to his knees with a look of obvious pain. And that’s where he stayed when referee Thomas Taylor counted to 10.
Garcia was gutted in many ways.
Garcia said: “He just caught me with a good shot. “I don’t want to make excuses. He caught me with a good shot and I couldn’t recover. That’s it, all I wanted to say.”
Davis said he wasn’t sure if he had landed the decisive blow.
“I think he’s going to get up,” Davis said, and then described eye contact between opponents. “I like to play mind games. When he looked at me, I looked at him as if I was saying, ‘Get up.’ He shook his head, said, ‘no.’”
Victory leaves Davis where?
The obvious next step is to go after one of the next top 135-pound athletes, undisputed champions Devin Haney, Vasiliy Lomachenko or Shakur Stevenson, all of whom have better backgrounds than Garcia.
It’s not clear how the matchmaking will play out. Haney is scheduled to take on Lomachenko on May 20. Stevenson is up against Top Rank.
However, big battles will come. Davis is too good, too famous to avoid if anyone intends to do so.
How famous is he? The organizers of Saturday’s event have repeatedly stated that the winner will become the face of boxing thanks to the combined ability of the fighters, a large following on social networks and, in Davis’ case, the ability to pack the arena.
That may be an overstatement given that Canelo Alvarez is still active. On the other hand, it is possible that Davis has overtaken the Mexican star, who may be in decline.
Tank was then asked if he was the face of the sport. He didn’t hesitate to reply.
“I am definitely the face of boxing,” he said. “Abso-f—ing-lutely.”
