It was difficult at times but Gervonta Davis was able to stop Hector Luis Garcia in nine rounds at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC. Now the stage is set for Davis to face Ryan Garcia in April.
In many ways it was classic Davis. He started slow, lost some rounds, got touched a bit, but eventually his overwhelming power carried the day. In what was a rather strange eighth round, the bout was halted as a skirmish broke out near ringside. As the action resumed, Davis was finally able to string together a series of hard power punches that finally bent Garcia, who for much of the night boxed well and picked his spots.
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As others have found out, you can win a few battles versus 'Tank' but nobody has been able to win the war. After getting shaken up in round eight, Garcia would not come out for the ninth. He complained of having impaired vision, in addition to getting noticeably buzzed.
You can say Garcia quit, to me it looked like he was concussed.
“A little surprised (he didn’t come out). But I knew he was hurt bad but he’s a fighter and he didn’t want to show it. I knew he was hurt though," commented Davis, who improved to 28-0(26 KOs). At the time of the stoppage Davis was ahead on two cards by the tally of 79-73 and 78-74. These scores do not reflect the competitive nature of this contest.
Davis admitted.“His southpaw style bothered me a little bit because I don’t fight a lot of southpaws but it’s okay; it’s a part of the game."
Yet it Davis who had the proverbial eraser. And with that he moves onto a showdown with Garcia, who has decided advantages in reach, height and has legitimate quick strike power. It's an interesting contrast of styles and personalities.
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How will Davis handle the quick twitch of Garcia, who possesses a lethal counter left hook? But what happens when Davis begins to close the gap and lands on Garcia?
“God willing I’m ready for the fight (with Ryan Garcia). It’s scheduled for April. I’m here. He’s been training. He’s been talking. And let’s see who’s really about that," said Davis.
-- Demetrius Andrade started things off on this pay-per-view bill from DC, by scoring a wide unanimous decision over Demond Nicholson. There's not too much to say other than it was your typical Andrade fight. He scored two knockdowns, and throughout much of the bout controlled the action from his southpaw stance.
Andrade won on all three scorecards by the score of 100-88.
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But truthfully, this particular effort didn't necessarily have the public yearning for more from 'Boo Boo'. He won as he usually does, but he has never truly left an impression on the public. Sometimes, just merely winning isn't enough. Now, the question is what's next for Andrade?
"We're going to look to see who's available at 168 pounds. I'm just going to get stronger, sharper and faster too,'' he promised.
- Rashidi Ellis got off to a fast start in his welterweight bout versus Roiman Villa, utilizing his speed and quickness. It looked like he built an early lead, but over time, the methodical pressure of Villa started to wear down Ellis.
Going into the late rounds you got the sense that Ellis just needed to see the final bell and he would have his hand raised in victory. But he also looked like that man who was 100 yards from shore but started to get water in his lungs, and began to drown in the 12th as he was sent to the canvas twice. While he went the distance, he had gotten beaten up late.
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“I was on top of him from the first round. I know that fighters such as him who are quick sooner or later will get a little tired and that’s what I took advantage of," said Villa.
While Ellis controlled the action early, it was Villa who came on late.
When the scorecards were read, it was Villa who won via majority decision by the scores of 113-113, 114-112, 114-112.
- Jaron 'Boots' Ennis had a more difficult time than expected in defeating Karen Chukhadzian, while he scored a shutout across the board, it was far from an impressive outing. It wasn't just that he went the distance, but throughout this night he was often impatient and got caught with sneaky counter-punches.
By the end of this contest, you could hear boos at the Capital One Arena. This was not the impression that Ennis wanted to make.
“I learned to just take my time and to not rush anything. I’m glad I went 12 rounds. It felt great. I felt I was in the best shape. I just needed to throw a little more punches. I should have got him out of there,'' stated Ennis, who moved to 30-0(27 KOs).
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Lets make this clear, Ennis was never in danger of losing this fight, but he looked like a boxer who was battling ring rust after having just four minutes of action last year at the age of 25. And the 12 rounds he got will be valuable moving forward. But yeah, activity matters. I'm still very high on Ennis' talent, but for all the training and sparring boxers do, it's the real fights that actually improve a boxer.
Too many boxers of this era are over-trained, over-sparred and under-fought. As one leading trainer told me recently, "You have to be really special to be able to improve in this generation with all this inactivity."
BUZZKILL
Some bad news was broken on Saturday afternoon by Mike Coppinger of ESPN, who reported that Eimantas Stanionis had to undergo an emergency appendectomy on Friday night in Lithuania, which means that his March 18 bout versus Vergil Ortiz will be post-poned.
This bout is for the secondary WBA welterweight title.
The purse bid for this bout was won by Golden Boy Promotions, who had planned to stage this at the Texas Rangers ballpark. Now, just when and where will Stanionis-Ortiz take place?
Golden Boy now has to find an open date on DAZN calendar, and then find a venue that has a vacancy for that weekend. Stanionis last fought in April, when he decisioned Radzhab Butaev on the Errol Spence-Yordenis Ugas undercard, while Ortiz stopped Michael McKinson in August. This means both boxers will be coming off significant layoffs by the time the touch'em up. Both boxed just once in 2022.
That's modern day boxing.
FINAL FLURRIES
It took over 20 minutes for the pay-per-view card to get to it's first bell, Then about 90 minutes to get to its second bout. The main event started just a few minutes before 1 AM, ET. I'll say this again, the pacing in boxing is awful....Also, can you develop a fan base by starting your bigger events so late into the night?....Brandun Lee scored a victory on the undercard in DC...Golden Boy announces that Alexis Rocha will face Anthony Young at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, CA on DAZN....How 'bout the turn around of the Jacksonville Jaguars?....I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com....
