Gervonta Davis defended his WBA world lightweight championship, beating Hector Luis Garcia by TKO early on Sunday morning after eight rounds.
Davis shrugged off a sluggish begin to enhance to 28-0 with 26 KOs and hand Garcia his first skilled loss in his seventeenth match. Garcia held in robust with Davis early however couldn’t reply the bell for the ninth spherical as a result of he misplaced imaginative and prescient in his proper eye.
“A little surprised, but when I caught him, I knew he was hurt he was hurt bad,” Davis stated. “He’s a fighter, so he didn’t want to show it. I knew he was hurt, though.”
Davis, a Baltimore native combating in his second hometown, is scheduled to face Ryan Garcia on April 15 in one among boxing’s most anticipated showdowns of the 12 months.
“I’ll be ready,” Davis stated. “I’m ready for the fight. He’s been training, he’s been talking and let’s see who’s really about that.”
Davis handed Garcia his first skilled loss
But first, Tank Davis needed to get by means of Garcia, the Dominican who he stated earned his spot because of a powerful 2022.
The combat was in hazard of being referred to as off when Davis was arrested and charged with home violence in late December, earlier than the lady who referred to as police put out an announcement on social media days later saying Davis didn’t hurt me or our daughter.
Davis, who was launched on bail and denied the allegations in a since-deleted social media publish, stated he was not apprehensive in regards to the combat not occurring, saying he simply wished to clear his title.
After the sell-out crowd of 19,731 waited till simply earlier than 1am for the beginning of the principle occasion, Davis and Garcia waited a bit of longer to get going, beginning with a few low-event rounds and only a few punches thrown.
Davis discovered his groove in the fourth spherical, touchdown a number of jabs and bringing followers to their ft.
“I was trying to beat him mentally,” Davis stated. “I was trying to trick him with my hands and with my eyes. He’s a talented fighter, so I had to bait him in.”
An altercation in the stands ringside led the referee to cease the motion halfway by means of the eighth spherical, as Davis and Garcia had been distracted by the disturbance. The combat resumed for greater than a minute, and Davis placed on a present till the bell, touchdown sufficient blows to finish the match.
“It was going well up until that point,” Garcia stated by means of an interpreter. “Sometimes I would put him in a bad spot, a bad condition, and I was picking my spots against him during the fight. Until then, I thought the fight was going well.”
Davis stopped Garcia in the eighth spherical
Davis did a again flip off the nook publish in celebration after his victory
In the co-feature, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis received the interim IBF welterweight championship by unanimous determination in opposition to Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian, going the gap for the primary time in his profession to stay unbeaten at 30-0. The fast-rising Philadelphia native had by no means gone past six rounds earlier than.
“I’m glad I went 12 rounds,” Ennis stated. “I felt I was in the best shape. I just need to throw more punches. I should have gotten him out of here.”
On the undercard, Roiman Villa knocked down Rashidi Ellis on the bell in the twelfth spherical and pulled off an upset by majority determination in an IBF welterweight title eliminator. Ellis misplaced for the primary time in 25 fights and disagreed with the choice.
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