By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
It was as if he never left and took a long vacation from the sport.
Coming off a 14-month hiatus, Gervonta “Tank” Davis shrugged off any ring rust issues and took care of Frank Martin in eight rounds to remain as the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight champion on June 16, 2024.
Davis still showed why he is one of the nastiest knockout artists in the sport as he landed a vicious left hook that floored Martin in the 1:43 mark of the eighth round.
However, it wasn’t what everyone expected to be a walk in the park as Martin was ahead in the scorecards after the first five rounds.
Martin was disciplined enough against Davis in the first rounds, maintaining his distance while only throwing jabs to pile up his score tally.
Aside from his in-and-out, Martin also avoided several dangerous moments after Davis decided to cut the distance and throw some haymakers.
To counter Davis’ aggression, Martin was quick to backpedal and recalibrate his desired distance while going back to his 1-2 punch signature move.
When the sixth round kicked off, Davis began to collect some momentum after landing several hard punches that connected to Martin’s jaw.
Surprisingly, Martin was forced to engage, falling to Davis’ set-up traps that helped him get back into the fight.
In the seventh round, Davis began to control the tempo of the fight after taking advantage of Martin slowing down his pace.
After several body shots that landed at will, Davis wrapped up the seventh round with a sneaky uppercut to enter the eighth with the much-needed confidence.
Davis then saved his best for last and iced the match in the eighth round after hitting Martin with a well-timed left hook to stay as the king of the lightweight division.
With the win, Davis kept his untainted professional boxing record and improved to 30 wins, 28 knockouts, without a loss.
