By Vince Dwriter: On the night of January 14, 2017, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, the then-rising contender Gervonta “Tank” Davis stepped inside the squared circle and formally introduced himself to the boxing public by stopping the defending champion Jose Pedraza in the seventh round, and winning the IBF super featherweight strap.
After posting his first world title victory, Davis continued to build momentum by stepping into the ring and consistently delivering highlight reel-styled knockouts. The knockouts generated excitement, and they also played a huge part in helping Davis grow a large fanbase.
Now the 28-year-old boxing star from Baltimore, Maryland, is on the verge of taking his career to the next level, and it all starts with his bout against Hector Luis Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs) on January 7th at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. live on Showtime Pay-per-view.
Gervonta Davis made his professional boxing debut at the D.C. Armory in 2013, and two years later, he inked a deal with Mayweather Promotions. He was the premier star on the roster for multiple years, but unfortunately, all good things eventually come to an end, and that includes Tank’s tenure with his former promotional company.
During his time with Mayweather Promotions, Davis managed to win world titles in three different weight classes. He has verbalized on multiple occasions the fact that he is thankful for the opportunity that Floyd Mayweather provided, but now it is time for him to branch out and take control of his career.
“This is just a test run right now, just on my own type of joint. But much love to Mayweather Promotions, Leonard, Floyd, all them guys. I definitely appreciate them, but I’m just doing my own thing now. I’m not saying in the future we can’t work together or anything like that,” Davis stated during his press conference to announce his fight with Hector Luis Garcia.
By taking the quantum leap to go out on his own, Davis has officially activated the Mayweather blueprint. Back in 2006, Floyd Mayweather took a chance on himself by leaving Bob Arum and Top Rank.
Mayweather’s gamble paid off as he became the biggest star in boxing, and he rode the money train for the remaining eleven years of his professional career.
Davis is currently taking a similar route in regards to betting on himself, as the immediate future will reveal the results of his gamble. His first test will come in the form of the reigning WBA super featherweight champion Hector Luis Garcia.
Some people view Garcia as a worthy opponent, others label him a tune-up, but Tank Davis and his team see Garcia as a man they plan on making an example out of in order to put the other lightweight stars on notice. If Davis is successful against Garcia, he’ll be in a prime position to emulate Floyd Mayweather and go on an epic run.
A convincing win on January 7th will surely build up the April showdown with Ryan Garcia. From there, Davis could potentially set up a fight at the end of the year with the reigning undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney, and then he could cap the run-off with a 2024 clash against the former two-division world champion Shakur Stevenson.
The WBA (regular) lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) is tired of the talk that is floating around in the air, and he’s ready to shut everybody up. Now that Davis is navigating his career, he’s ready to travel down the road of high risk and high reward. If Davis can successfully travel down that difficult path, his destination will be an elevated level of greatness, fame, and fortune.