Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis made a triumphant return to the ring after greater than a 12 months away, dominating Frank Martin and knocking him out at 1:29 of the eighth spherical Saturday evening to retain the WBA light-weight championship.
Davis delivered a proper and two lefts to Martin’s face to ship the Indianapolis resident to the canvas for his first profession loss after he received his first 18 fights. Tank once more proved to be one in all boxing’s most ferocious punchers, bettering to 30-0 – all however two by knockout.
This combat additional solidified Davis, a Baltimore native and resident, as one in all his sport’s high pound-for-pound boxers.
That bout between 29-year-olds headlined the one hundredth championship combat evening on the MGM Grand Backyard Area, which has been supplanted by T-Cell Area as Las Vegas’ prime spot for fight sports activities. To mark the event, 4 title fights came about, together with the interim WBC gentle heavyweight championship that David Benavidez received by unanimous determination over Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
However there was little doubt who the principle points of interest had been on this evening, and that was clear at Wednesday’s press convention. Davis and Martin bantered backwards and forwards in the course of the Wednesday information convention. Then when the 2 boxers did the normal poses afterward, Davis pretended to take a swing at Martin. Martin flinched and Davis left the rostrum laughing.
This was Davis’ first combat since 22 April 2023, when he delivered a devastating left uppercut that handed Ryan Garcia a seventh-round knockout at T-Cell Area.
The 421-day layoff confirmed early as Martin received two of the primary three rounds, together with a proper that caught Davis within the face.
That appeared to get up Davis, who then took over the combat by repeatedly sending Martin into ropes and corners. Davis appeared prepared to complete off Martin with a number of exhausting blows within the sixth spherical, bringing the pro-Tank crowd of 13,239 to its toes.
Benavidez (29-0) made a profitable debut in his transfer up from tremendous middleweight. The Las Vegas resident defeated Gvozdyk (20-2), a Ukraine native who trains in Oxnard, California, by scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109.
Alberto Puello (23-0) of the Dominican Republic received the WBC interim tremendous light-weight championship with a cut up determination over Gary Russell (17-1) of Capitol Heights, Maryland. Two judges gave Puello the victory with scores of 115-112 and 114-113 and one other had it for Russell 118-109.
Dominican middleweight champion Carlos Adames (24-1) retained his WBC belt with a unanimous determination over Terrell Gausha (24-4-1) of Encino, California. Two judges scored the combat 118-110 and the opposite had it 119-109.
Heisman Trophy winner and Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels was amongst these in attendance. Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard, Chicago Bulls ahead DeMar DeRozan and coach Antonio Pierce and proprietor Mark Davis of the Las Vegas Raiders additionally had been within the crowd.