American superstar and WBA (Regular) world Lightweight champion Gervonta Davis met the bar he set at the press conference prior to his match with Dominican challenger Hector Luis Garcia. After assuring that no one would “want to miss” his fight against Garcia, Davis delivered a stupendous stoppage win over Garcia in the ninth round. The championship bout for the WBA Regular belt was held at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on January 7.
The match was not a one-sided domination for Gervonta Davis (28-0, 26 KO’s) who had to rely on more than just his power to land himself the victory. Hector Garcia (16-1, 10 KO’s) suffered the first loss of his career as a result.
Garcia didn’t sit tentative throughout the match. Fighting on the front foot, Garcia forced back Davis many times throughout the match, but Davis was not daunted by Garcia’s approach, managing to trap and catch the taller opponent with several hard shots on the counter.
Due to Garcia’s efforts, Davis did lose a couple of rounds but seemed ahead on the scorecards by the time the fight entered the ninth round. Despite a relatively long pause due to an apparent fight by rap superstar Meek Mill and Featherweight contender Gary Russell, the match continued. In the eight round, Davis forced Garcia into retreating, and Gervonta Davis capitalized by hitting with unanswered shots.
As the ninth round started to commence, Hector Garcia’s corner indicated he could not – or would not – continue and the match was ruled as a stoppage victory for Gervonta Davis. The damage that Hector Garcia had taken in the eight had apparently been too much to his detriment to continue, resulting in his corner refusing to let him fight on in the ninth round.
Gervonta Davis’ win marks the second defense he made of his WBA (Regular) title at Lightweight. His first defense was against Rolly Romero (14-1, 12 KO’s) who was also stopped while challenging Davis for his title.
With Undisputed Lightweight champion Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KO’s) holding the Super belt version of the WBA, it is expected that Davis will face Haney in the near future, though that may not necessarily happen this year as Haney has been said to be negotiating a fight with former Lightweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko (17-2, 11 KO’s).
The fight card of the event also featured bouts of Welterweight prospects Rashidi Ellis (24-1, 15 KO’s) and Jaron Ennis (30-0, 27 KO’s), as well as former Middleweight world champion Demetrius Andrade (32-0, 19 KO’s) making his return to the ring after last fighting in November of 2021.
Demetrius Andrade coursed to a unanimous decision victory over opponent Demond Nicholson (26-5-1, 22 KO’s), despite suffering a knockdown in the fifth round that wasn’t officially counted. With ring rust clearly apparent in Andrade, he still put up a confident and skillful boxing performance over his countryman.
Rashidi Ellis faced Roiman Villa (26-1, 24 KO’s) in a Welterweight match-up and seemingly won the majority of rounds through skill and slick boxing alone, but by the twelfth round Villa spurred himself in a magnificent effort to knock down Ellis twice in the last round. With the judges announcing Villa as the winner by majority decision, there was naturally some controversy as Ellis was thought to have been well up on the scorecards prior to the knockdowns he suffered in the last round.
Jaron Ennis, who promised a Mike Tyson-esque performance prior to his IBF world interim championship bout with Karen Chukhadzhian (21-2, 11 KO’s) won by unanimous decision but couldn’t deliver on his promise to stop or knockout the Ukrainian. Showing a fluent set of boxing skills that allowed Chukhadzhian to deftly box – and outbox in some rounds – Ennis, Ennis looked frustrated as he failed to successfully cut off the ring. With Chukhadzhian perfectly comfortable to fight on the back foot, Ennis struggled to make an impact on the inside but got the decision win through sheer determination and hard labour.
Overall, the fight card proved to be a success for the PBC as Gervonta Davis continued onto his rise as a pound-for-pound fighter with another acclamatory victory. Following Davis’ split with Floyd Mayweather and his promotion, the 28-year old looks set to trailblaze his own path in the sport of boxing. His next match is set in April against longtime rival and social media star Ryan Garcia (23-0, 19 KO’s), who – like Davis – is also sports an unbeaten record.
