Getty Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia
Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, two young boxing superstars, finally met in the ring and “Tank” came out on top.
Davis and Garcia met at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday night and battled for seven rounds at a 135-pound catchweight via Showtime. Although “King Ry” found some success, Davis was the most impactful, dropping Garcia in the second round before finishing him with a body shot a few frames later.
Prior to the seventh-round KO, Davis was up on all of the judges’ scorecards, the broadcast revealed after the fact.
It was a battle of “someone’s ‘0’ has a to go,” and Tank left the arena with his perfect professional record still intact. Davis improved his spread to 29-0 with 27 KOs, and Garcia’s record fell to 23-1 with 19 KOs.
Garcia Wants to Rematch Davis Down the Line
If King Ry gets his way, he’ll get back to his winning ways inside the ring which will eventually lead him to a rematch with Tank.
“Hey guys,” Garcia said in a video posted to social media after the bout concluded. “Obviously, I’m disappointed after the fight. I tried my best. He caught with me a good body shot. I’ll come back stronger and yeah man, hopefully one day, after I rack up a couple wins, we can do a rematch. Maybe at 140 or 147. But, thank you guys for all the support. Love you, guys.”
Combat Sports World Reacts to Tank vs. Garcia
Take a look at some reactions from members of the combat sports world:
Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. posted and Instagram Story reacting to the result. “Man, Gervonta did what he had to do,” Ruiz said. “He won the fight, but I was going for Ryan. But, he gave up, man. I feel like he gave up. I feel like he should of did what he had to do to win the fight. When we get down, we got to get back up. We’ve got to ask for God for that victory. When we get knocked down we got to ask for God for that victory. I feel like that’s what he should have done. I still feel like Ryan should’ve done more, man. He should’ve risked his life more.”
Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub tweeted: “Amazing fight. Not taking a single thing away from tank but you’re crazy if you don’t think @RyanGarcia came into the ring tonight with a previous injury.”
Top-ranked UFC bantamweight “Sugar” Sean O’Malley wrote about Davis: “Walk out was hard. Still feel like I piece him low key.”
“The MMA Hour” host Ariel Helwani tweeted: “I don’t think anyone here thought it was gonna end there but Garcia couldn’t get up from a body shot. Injured rib? Garcia was hanging tough but as usual Tank took his time, downloaded the data and pounced. Fun fight.”
Current UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill tweeted: “Damn I was off a couple rounds but result is still the same!!! That body shot was nasty you could hear it!!!”
Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg tweeted: “Gervonta was a step ahead the whole time! @ShowtimeBoxing has the face of the sport!”
“He said it and and he did! 7th round finish,” top-ranked UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns tweeted. “Tank by body shot wow.”