LAS VEGAS — An hour after he landed the left uppercut to the rib cage that dropped Ryan Garcia for a 10-count within the seventh spherical, Gervonta Davis returned to the ring at T-Mobile Arena to place his arms on Garcia once more.
In friendship, this time.
Garcia had simply completed addressing the postfight information convention, and Davis, nonetheless shirtless and sporting his boxing trunks, gave him a fast embrace earlier than heading to his seat. Along the best way, he handed the dais and, along with his left hand, tapped on the microphone. It fell and landed with an amplified thud.
For Davis, the gaffe match the night’s theme.
He and Garcia each have hand pace, punching energy and popularity that reaches beyond serious boxing fans. The lead-up to the bout on Saturday night time featured them buying and selling insults at information conferences and on millennial-friendly platforms like Instagram Live, cultivating what organizers figured can be a large viewers.
And Davis delivered, knocking Garcia down within the second spherical and once more in Round 7. A brief, sharp left hand compelled Garcia to a knee, the place he took a 10-count from the referee.
A one-punch knockout and a mic drop second for Davis, the undefeated 28-year-old energy puncher from Baltimore.
“He came in. He was rushing. He got caught with a shot,” mentioned Davis, whose future partly rests on the outcome of two criminal cases towards him. In May, he might be sentenced for a hit-and-run crash that injured 4 folks and arraigned on fees that he struck a girl at his dwelling in Parkland, Fla.
Even with out titles at stake, the bout, which matched elite undefeated fighters, had a championship really feel. On the Las Vegas Strip, distributors hawked commemorative T-shirts, and inside T-Mobile Arena, celebrities dotted ringside seats. Manny Pacquiao, the previous world champion in eight divisions, sat two seats away from Mark Wahlberg. Several members of the Las Vegas Raiders attended, as did Mike Tyson.
Part of the enchantment owed to Garcia’s reputation. By early Sunday morning, his Instagram follower rely had risen to just about 10 million. His broad and dependable viewers makes him enticing to sponsors, like Gatorade, and to boxing energy brokers trying to stage a mega occasion.
Davis is a confirmed ticket-seller — his earlier bout set a gate income report at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. He can be a favourite amongst professional athletes and hip-hop stars. The day earlier than the struggle, Drake wager $1 million on Davis, and earlier than the opening bell, Davis strutted to the ring with the rapper Chief Keef rhyming alongside him.
Throughout Round 1, Garcia, who has 19 knockouts amongst 23 victories, stalked the shorter Davis, who circled away along with his arms excessive. Later, Garcia mentioned he regretted pursuing Davis.
“I definitely messed up,” Garcia, who’s now 23-1, mentioned. “I should have made it boring. Made him miss.”
In the second spherical, Garcia, who’s 5 toes 10 inches, unleashed a flurry of exhausting punches. Davis ducked beneath them and countered with a thunderous roundhouse left that dropped Garcia.
“He was coming on real strong till he got caught with that shot,” Davis mentioned.
At the weigh-in on Friday, Garcia, a 24-year-old from Los Angeles, flexed his six-pack stomach muscular tissues in entrance of Davis, to show that weight-reduction plan all the way down to the bout’s 136-pound weight restrict had not drained him.
On Saturday, Davis made Garcia’s midsection a goal. In Round 4, he speared Garcia with a straight left to the physique.
As the rounds progressed, Davis supplemented these left arms with proper hooks to the torso. According to CompuBox, Davis landed 18 physique punches, in contrast with seven for Garcia, who landed his greatest punch — a proper cross to the temple — late in Round 6. Garcia spent Round 7 because the aggressor, but then got here the fast change ending with a lightning-fast left to the physique.
The harm didn’t register instantly. Garcia shuffled again just a few steps and prolonged a left jab earlier than he collapsed in response to that piercing physique shot.
“I was close to getting up, for sure,” Garcia mentioned on the information convention. “I ain’t got no excuses. I just didn’t get up.”
The knockout burnished Davis’s status as an correct, environment friendly, damaging puncher. He threw solely six punches in Round 2, and landed three, together with the left hand that dropped Garcia. Davis landed 5 of his seven punches in that closing spherical.
The turnout solidified Davis’s status as a gate attraction. T-Mobile Arena’s listed capability for boxing occasions is 20,000. The struggle card on Saturday drew 20,842.
After his emphatic win, Davis mentioned he would relaxation for just a few weeks after which return to work.
“I have a bright future, and I’m staying humble through it all,” Davis mentioned.
But unresolved courtroom circumstances might imperil his plans.
If Davis avoids jail time, choices ought to abound within the talent-rich light-weight division, the place the undisputed champion, Devin Haney, will defend his belts towards Vasyl Lomachenko on May 20. The undefeated former junior light-weight champion, Shakur Stevenson, has additionally moved as much as the 135-pound light-weight division.
