Gervonta Davis showed once again why he is one of the top fighters in the world.
Davis floored Ryan Garcia early before finishing him in the seventh, handing Garcia his first career loss. The bout took place from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, airing live on pay-per-view.
“Everything about this was exciting,” Davis said. “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.”
After years of build-up, two of boxing’s most exciting and popular fighters went toe-to-toe in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,842, with the three-time, five-division champion Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) emerging victorious after landing a powerful straight left hand to the body that caused a delayed reaction from Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) and eventually saw him take a knee.
“I’m good,” Garcia said. “‘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.”
In the co-main event, WBA super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. (9-0, 8 KOs) delivered a dominant first-round knockout over Olympic bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao (24-2-1, 10 KOs) to retain his title.
