By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
And again, Gervonta “Tank” Davis proved he can walk his talk.
In a highly-anticipated boxing mega fight to determine the current face of the sport, the hard-hitting knockout artist from Baltimore, Davis, silenced his doubters after clinching a seventh-round technical knockout win over the talented Ryan “King” Garcia during their super lightweight showdown last April 23, 2023, held at the sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Davis’ huge victory extended his undefeated professional boxing streak to 29-straight bouts while Garcia suffered his first-ever pro loss in seven years.
Despite a strong start from Garcia who landed more significant shots through his efficient jabs, Davis was able to recover and turned the jets in the highlight-filled second round.
The round started with a surprising flurry from Garcia who just went in and threw a barrage of wild punches in hopes of disrupting Davis’ rhythm.
However, that move proved to be his mistake early in the fight after Davis landed a vicious left hook counter at the 1:01 mark of the second round for the first knockdown of the fight.
As Garcia walked forward and threw the overhand left hook, Davis was in the right place and threw the well-timed left hook counter that put him up early in the scorecards.
Davis then began to pick Garcia apart during the start of the fourth round and targeted his body at will using his thundering left hand.
With Davis now looking comfortable in exchanging punches despite the distance, Garcia started to gather himself in the sixth round after scoring several right straight punches that landed cleanly in the jaw.
Garcia then closed the round with more scores using his snappy right hand that caught Davis off guard but still trailed two rounds according to the unofficial scorecards.
Needing to establish dominance as he did in rounds 3-5, Davis went back to his approach and fought back technically to avoid Garcia’s right-hand counters.
All hell then broke loose when the seventh round ticked under the two-minute mark as Davis started to operate in the body again followed by a crisp left hook to Garcia’s head.
In a surprising turn of events in the last 1:35 of the round, Davis sent the killer blow of the fight after sending Garcia down to the canvass with a vicious left hook to the body.
As Garcia missed a left hook swing, Davis ducked down, sought an opening, and met him with a powerful liver shot that ended the fight in style via a TKO win.
“It was just him not knowing his placement and I knew that I was the smarter guy. Coach Calvin Ford always keeps telling me in camp that he is going to come up with his head up so just shoot it over the top,” said Davis after the victory.
