Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan: Vicious body shot ends the fight of the century in round 7

Gervonta Davis knocks down Ryan Garcia during a lightweight boxing bout Saturday, April 22, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

By Ed Emeanua

Gervonta Davis maintained his unbeaten record Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas by flooring Ryan Garcia in the second before blowing him out in round 7 off a vicious punch to the body to score a telling one-punch stoppage before a sold-out audience.

Garcia failed to beat the count after taking a Davis’ surprise left hook to the body in the seventh round, forcing the 24-year-old down on one knee after a dally as blood poured out of his nose, and failing to recompose as central referee Thomas Taylor counted him out as he eventually lumbered onto his feet at exactly 1:44 of Round 7.

The face of boxing @Gervontaa stops Garcia in round 7 with a VICIOUS body shot 😱 #DavisGarcia pic.twitter.com/8MRrWvBOOQ

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) April 23, 2023

When the story of the Davis versus Garcia fisticuff is ever being told, it would be incomplete without the mention of its uniquely crowning highlights-the incidence of the vicious left hook to the midriff-that ultimately made all the difference.

Gervonta Davis (left) reacts after defeating Ryan Garcia by knockout in the seventh round during their highly anticipated fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on April 22, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Again, if at all there is anything in boxing like a ‘beautiful’ left hand shot to the body that could compel a tested fighter like Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs), to take a knee, whereby, he was forced to retire from the fight; don’t tell anyone in their right mind about that. All that was evident in this fight is that the body punch that ended the fight was vicious through and through, and would have taken out any fighter at this level.

Yet, even before the first bell of the fight, the general agreement was that the Tank’s power would be the difference, though Garcia too is a heavy puncher in his own right. But no one thought the punch that would eventually end the discussion between two of boxing’s tantalizing prospects would be a body punch, vicious or not.

The foreboding of the end of the fight was telegraphed as early as the second round when Davis (29-0, 27 KOs), viciously connected his now legendary left hook to Garcia’s face forcing KingRy to temporarily take a knee. On this instance, Garcia was able to find the wherewithal to get up and battle on.

Despite the solitary dent to Garcia’s once-upon-a-time unblemished record, nothing should be taken from him as he was up for the challenge all night long, giving as much as he took, even landing several single power punches that forced Davis into taking notice. However, it wasn’t so much as power that gave Davis his win, but his boxing talent, his ring smartness and foresight to seize the initiative whenever Garcia made a mistake-that cumulatively earned him the victory in the 136 pound weight challenge.

Garcia did too much in the second round, attempting a right at Davis, at a moment when the fight appeared to be falling into place for him. Davis expertly sneaked in a punch and connected with a flawlessly executed reply left hook that slammed into the middle of Garcia’s face and floored him.

Davis, 28, who spent the majority of the promotion of the fight convincing the media that he is the new face of the sport, has now made it hard to be disputed over that claim after this showing.

“I’m definitely the face of boxing, everybody already knew that. Everything was exciting, I was excited being apart of this event.” Davis said.

“I remember coming up during Floyd [Mayweather] fights at the MGM [Grand Garden Arena] and I knew it would be me one day. I’m going to keep my head down, stay humble and continue to get to work.”

Even by ShoStats compute, though Garcia was able to land more punches in the bout by an edge of 39 to 35 in this substantially nervous session with modest works, Davis somehow managed to deliver an exciting forty-eight percent of his ferocious punches altogether.

Garcia easily took the first as Davis merely scouted him out. Subsequently, Davis took complete control, masterfully cutting off the ring before Garcia and limiting his opponent’s vaunted punching abilities with his left hook and mobility inside the ring.

“It was me just trying to get into his head, you know,” Davis said. “I really don’t know. But once I got in there with him, I felt skill-wise, it would be all me.

“It was just him not knowing his placement and I knew that I was the smarter guy. Coach [Calvin Ford] always keeps telling me in camp that he is going to come up with his head up so just shoot it over the top.”

Davis who was ahead on all three Judge’s scorecards at the time of the TKO (58-56, 59-56 and 59-55), ended the catchweight fray with a shot that many did not see coming.

“He caught me with a good shot,” Garcia said. “[I will make] no excuses in here. I just couldn’t recover. That’s it. That’s all I have to say. He caught me with a good body shot. I’m not saying nothing but yeah, I couldn’t breathe. I was going to get back up but yeah, I couldn’t get back up. Tank is a great fighter and I take my hat off to him.

All class from @RyanGarcia 🙌#DavisGarcia pic.twitter.com/VQIURKtUq0

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) April 23, 2023

“We talked a lot of shit but he knows it’s all love at the end of the day and I take my hat off to him. He was the better man. He just caught me with a good shot.”

The end of the Davis versus Garcia fight opens up another new chapter of interesting note for the boxing sport. It launches a new face for the game in Davis and reloads for a future persona but a very formidable foe in Garcia. That, there might be a Davis versus Garcia 2 cannot be discounted.

The only obstacle for that to happen is for Garcia to take stock of the loss, retool, and then ask for his deserved rematch. That it would happen cannot be debated. Many are already salivating over the possibility. Time will tell.

Fight card, results

• Gervonta “Tank” Davis def. Ryan Garcia via seventh-round knockout
• David Morrell (c) def. Yamaguchi Falcao via first-round knockout*
• Bektemir Melikuziev def. Gabriel Rosado via unanimous decision (99-91, 99-91, 99-91)
• Elija Garcia def. Kevin Zambrano via unanimous decision (95-94, 97-92, 97-92)