By Brian Webber: Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (29-0, 27 KOs) deflated Ryan Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) with a perfectly placed left to the body to stop him in the seventh on Saturday night in their entertaining 136-lb catchweight fight on Showtime PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Gervonta backed up Ryan in the seventh and hit him with a beautiful left to the midsection that caused him to take a knee. Wincing with pain, the referee counted Ryan out in a sudden ending that had fans in shock.
The fans were likely expecting Tank to end the fight with a headshot, as he’d already knocked Ryan down earlier in the fight in round two with a counter left to the head.
That shot seemed to take much of the fight out of the popular social media/boxing star, as before that, he’d been fighting aggressively and looking like he had a chance to win.
In round two, Tank knocked Ryan down with a perfectly timed left counter to the head. Although Ryan wasn’t hurt, he looked like he’d didn’t want anymore after that experience.
On the negative side, the ending pretty much rules out a rematch because it wasn’t competitive enough, and the wrong guy won for there to be a demand for a second fight. Had Ryan come out victorious or been competitive, boxing fans would be screaming to see a second fight.
As such, Tank won the fight, but he actually comes out as the loser in the big scheme of things because there’s no point in having a rematch.
Sure, Tank’s management can certainly move forward with a rematch with Ryan Garcia, but it probably won’t be for the same money they made in this fight, and it won’t make the kind of fight that it would if Kingry had won.
After this fight, Gervonta will likely fight either the winner of the Devin Haney vs. Vasily Lomachenko contest or Shakur Stevenson. Between those two options, Haney is probably the direction that Tank Davis’ management will take him because Stevenson has too much defensive ability, and there’s an excellent chance he wins, even if rehydration clauses & catchweights are used.
That’s not going to be enough to weaken Stevenson. Hence, Tank won’t fight him because his skills are too good.
