GERVONTA DAVIS BEATS LUIS GARCIA BY TKO, RETAINS WBA LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE

Gervonta Davis successfully defended his WBA world lightweight title, defeating Hector Luis Garcia via TKO early Sunday morning after eight rounds.

Davis overcame a sluggish start to improve to 28-0 with 26 KOs and hand Garcia his first professional defeat in his 17th fight. Garcia battled Davis early on but was unable to answer the bell for the ninth round.

In one of boxing’s most anticipated fights of the year, the Baltimore native will face Ryan Garcia in his second hometown in April.

But first, “Tank” Davis had to get past Garcia, the Dominican who he said “earned his spot” with a strong 2022 performance.

After a sellout crowd of 19,731 waited until just before 1 a.m. for the main event to begin, Davis and Garcia took their time, beginning with a couple of low-event rounds and very few punches thrown. In the fourth round, Davis found his groove, landing several jabs and bringing the crowd to their feet.

As Davis and Garcia were distracted by the disturbance in the stands ringside, the referee called a halt to the action midway through the eighth round. For more than a minute, the fight resumed, and Davis put on a show until the bell rang, landing enough blows to end the match.

The fight was Showtime’s first major event at the Capital One Arena since Mike Tyson’s final fight against Kevin McBride in 2005.

When Davis was arrested and charged with domestic violence in late December, the woman who called police issued a statement on social media days later saying Davis “did not harm me or our daughter.” Davis stated that he was not concerned about the fight not taking place, and that all he wanted was to clear his name.

Jaron “Boots” Ennis won the interim IBF welterweight championship by unanimous decision over Ukraine’s Karen Chukhadzhian in the co-feature, going the distance for the first time in his career to remain undefeated at 30-0. The fast-rising Philadelphia native had never previously gone beyond six rounds.

“I’m glad I made it through 12 rounds,” Ennis said. “I felt fantastic. I thought I was in great shape. All I need to do is throw more punches. I should’ve gotten him out of here sooner.” On the undercard, Roiman Villa knocked out Rashidi Ellis in the 12th round and won by majority decision in an IBF welterweight title eliminator. Ellis was defeated for the first time in 25 fights and was upset with the decision.

“I want the rematch now,” Ellis said. “I thought I was in charge of the fight. I’m not sure. “I’m not sure what happened.”