By: Sean Crose
It was the biggest fight boxing had presented in years. Undefeated multi-titlist Gervonta Davis put his 28-0 record on the line as he squared off against another undefeated star, the popular 23-0 Ryan Garcia. There were no titles on the line in the scheduled 12 round bout because frankly there didn’t need to be. Davis and Garcia were stars, plain and simple – young, hard hitting, fast and insanely confident stars. The winner was said to likely become the face of boxing.
The first round saw Garcia start off tossing the jab at his opponent. That jab essentially told the story of the chapter, as each fighter was rightfully wary of the other. Garcia opened up in the second, firing fast, hard shots at his man. Davis, meanwhile, employed lateral footwork. Davis also began holding quite a lot. Then, when it looked like he might be in trouble, Davis sent Garcia to the mat with a beautiful left that landed smack on the face. Garcia got up, but Davis had proven a big point very early on.
Davis had an effective, aggressive third, pushing the action and landing well at times with a straight left. The fourth was close, though it appeared Davis took the chapter simply by beating his man to the punch. Garcia also appeared to have a difficult time reaching the shorter man with this shots. The fifth was a very sharp affair. Davis landed well to the body and had some explosions of violence. Garcia on the other hand flicked out his jab rather well.
Garcia rocked his man hard in the sixth. He was also intelligent enough to avoid getting into a slug feat with the menacing Davis. In response, Davis landed well to the stomach. Garcia was doing well at the start of the seventh – when he shocked everyone by going down a few seconds after receiving a Davis body shot. Needless to say, Garcia couldn’t beat the count. It was some kind of performance from Davis.
“Everything was exciting man. I was excited to be a part of this event,” Davis said afterward. “The job’s never done till I retire. I’ll keep my head down, stay humble and keep getting to work.” For his own part, Garcia was gracious in defeat. “Tank is a great fighter. I take my hat off to him,” he said. “I was honored to be in the ring with a great fighter and I respect him a lot.”
