Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia squared off in the main event live on pay-per-view from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 22. The contest featured Baltimore’s undefeated five-time, three-division world champion up against unbeaten top contender from Los Alamitos, California.
Advertisements
The scheduled for 12 rounds 136-pound catchweight bout didn’t go the full distance. Davis came out on top with a big left hand to the body in Round 7 that caused a delayed reaction from Garcia and eventually saw him take a knee, after sending him to the canvas with a big left in Round 2.
The official time of stoppage was 1 minute and 44 seconds into the seventh round. At the time of the stoppage the scores were 58-56, 59-56, 59-55 in favor of Davis.
With the victory by TKO, 28-year-old Gervonta “Tank” Davis remained undefeated and improved his record to 29-0, 27 KOs.
‘I’m definitely the face of boxing’
“Everything about this was exciting,” said Davis. “I was excited to be a part of this event. I remember coming up in the Golden Gloves and seeing Floyd Mayweather fight at MGM Grand. It was crazy. I actually just saw Rihanna perform at the Super Bowl, and I thought, ‘that’s going to be me one day.’ And we’re here. The reality definitely matches the dream. But the job is never done until I retire, so I’m going to keep my head down, stay humble and continue to work.”
“I didn’t think that body shot would end it, but I saw his facial expression and that’s what made me take it to him. 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.”
“The first knockdown was just him not knowing his placement. I knew that I was the smaller guy, and my coach was telling me in camp that he’s going to come up with his head up, so just shoot over the top.”
“I’m definitely the face of boxing. Absolutely!”
24-year-old “King” Ryan Garcia dropped to 23-1, 19 KOs and suffered his first career defeat.
‘I couldn’t breathe’
“I’m good,” said Garcia. “‘Tank’ is a great fighter. I take my hat off to him. I know we talked a lot of trash leading into the fight, but he knows what it is. It’s all love at the end of the day. I was honored to be in 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.”
“He just caught me with a good shot. I don’t want to make any excuses in here. He caught me with a good shot and I just couldn’t recover and that’s it. He caught me with a good body shot, snuck under me and caught me good. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to get back up, but I just couldn’t get up.”
“I think I should have pressured him a little harder near the ropes. I was giving him a little bit too much respect and I think that was my downfall. I think I gave him a little too much respect in the ring.”
In Australia, the event aired live on Sunday, April 23.
Get Davis vs Garcia full fight card results.
Advertisements
