Gervonta Davis knocked out Ryan Garcia with a devastating body shot on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
The clash of young Americans crowned a new boxing superstar as Tank’s left hand forced his opponent to sit out the count after he initially took a knee on a delayed reaction.
The fight began with a typically tentative start from Davis as he sized up his opponent in the early stages.
Garcia threw out some jabs in the opening round, though little of consequence landed for either man.
Early in round two, Garcia launched his first real attacks as he hurled combinations at Davis.
Tank clinched to negate these moments, though Garcia was relentless with his assault and had him on the back foot.
However, in an instant the round flipped on its head as Garcia missed with a left hook and Davis nailed him with a counter left of his own which knocked him down to the canvas.
Garcia quickly rose back to his feet and survived the round as he was not badly hurt – the knockdown reminiscent of the only time he’d previously been floored by Luke Campbell in 2021.
The accuracy on that first Tank knockdown 🎯#DavisGarcia pic.twitter.com/eejzjNKFac
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 23, 2023
The third round was quieter as a result, with Garcia far more cautious having felt Tank’s power.
This allowed Davis to open up more and come forward as he made his opponent flinch with every feint.
Round four saw Tank continuing to box in a methodical fashion, picking his shots well and showing off impressive defensive ability to avoid all of Garcia’s dangerous left hook attempts.
By the fifth, Davis looked completely comfortable as he grabbed Garcia during a clinch and span him around. He then taunted his opponent by doing a 360 spin on his own once they were separated.
.@Gervontaa‘s knockdown of Garcia got @FloydMayweather‘s attention 👏🏽#DavisGarcia pic.twitter.com/Zi9kuc8DfE
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) April 23, 2023
As they hit the halfway point, Garcia finally had some serious success by nailing Tank with a couple of hard right hands.
In round seven, he attempted to build on this success but was then smashed by a brutal body shot from Davis.
Garcia retreated a few steps and took a knee as the pain spread through his mid-section.
He was unable to make it back to his feet and the referee waved off the contest.
What a finish for Tank Davis 👊#DavisGarcia pic.twitter.com/ckKSfeb7F3
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) April 23, 2023
Garcia explained in his post-fight interview: “He caught me with a good body shot and I just couldn’t recover.
“I couldn’t breathe. I just couldn’t get up…
“Tank is a great fighter. I take my hat off to him. We talked a lot of s***, but it’s all love at the end of the day.
“I was honoured to be in the ring with a great fighter and I respect him a lot.”
