Tank Davis KOs Ryan Garcia

Tank Beats Ryan in Las Vegas in Mega Fight 

(All photos by Al Applerose)

By Uppercut Magazine staff

Crowds gathered outside hoping to find a way inside and fans packed the arena seats, many for the first time to see Gervonta “Tank” Davis emerge the winner by knockout over the incredibly fast Ryan “Kingry” Garcia.

All this excitement for a non-title fight.

“Everything about this was exciting. I was excited to be a part of this event,” said Davis.

More was at stake than a simple world title with Davis (29-0, 27 Kos) proving to be the superior fighter over Garcia (23-1, 19 Kos) in a nip and tuck battle between undefeated super lightweights in their 20s at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Few of the more than 20,000 fans who paid an average of $500 departed feeling their money was misused. More than 1.2 million households bought the pay-per-view fight.

It was a spectacle and pageant that professional boxing brings especially in the highest order. This fight had all the ingredients for a diamond quality contest and it delivered with a flourish.

Baltimore’s Davis was the odds favorite to win mostly because of his world title experience against top competition. At 28, the small but powerful fighter has a style combining solid boxing technique, speed and power. One thing over looked is his ring IQ.

Southern California’s Garcia did not have ring experience against world titlists, but he possesses remarkable speed and reflexes that just can’t be taught. He also has the most deadly left hook seen in many years.

In boxing, anything can happen when one punch can decide the outcome.

Celebrities were everywhere and fans seemed more intent to take selfies than watch the large roster of prize fights staged for the fans. Middleweights, lightweights and bantamweights performed and some surprised with their unknown talent.

Super middleweight titlist David Morrell showed fans why he has a talent and experts are predicting he could be the next big thing. Cuba’s Morrell decimated Brazil’s Yamaguchi Falcao with right hooks galore in the first round carnage. Maybe he can be the next great challenge for David “Monster” Benavidez or even Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.  

Middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia a 19-year-old from Phoenix tangled with Mexico’s rugged veteran Kevin Salgado and needed every round to establish a victory. No knockdowns were scored from the two knockout punchers.

All in all, the main event proved to be the most dynamic fight of them all. Davis treated Garcia with the care of a man walking past a rattlesnake in a narrow alley. Though dangerous himself, Davis also could feel the speed and power wielded by the taller fighter.

He took no chances.

Garcia, though taller and blazing fast, found Davis to be puzzling and unpredictable at times. After going for broke and getting dropped by a counter left cross, Garcia took a more tentative approach for a few rounds looking for chinks in Davis defense.

“I knew that I was the smaller guy, and my coach was telling me in camp that he’s going to come up with his head up, so just shoot over the top,” Davis said after the fight.

It was prophetic.

The end came when Garcia gambled again to open up with speed combinations. Once again Davis countered with a left cross, but this time to the body and the effects took several seconds to send paralysis to Garcia’s legs. Down he went for the count.

“He caught me with a good shot and I just couldn’t recover and that’s it. He caught me with a good body shot, snuck under me and caught me good,” said Garcia after his first defeat.

Most of the crowd was stunned because few saw the actual blow connect. But when referee Tom Taylor counted out Garcia at 1:44 of the seventh round, then the crowd erupted in a frenzy of cheers and roared its approval and amazement.

One punch can end a fight and it did.