Here are the most eye-catching stories from this weekend’s boxing news and ring action:
– Gervonta “Tank” Davis dropped “King” Ryan Garcia twice en route to a seventh round KO in Saturday’s highly-anticipated 136 lb. clash at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Garcia was having some success with fairly wild bursts of offense in the first half of the second round. A big left hand counter, however, dropped him hard and put an end to the underdog’s momentum. From that point forward, the 24-year-old became more cautious and measured, essentially shutting down his chance to create opportunities to land his big left hook kill shot.
By the middle rounds, it seemed as though the 28-year-old Davis had already figured out his rival and was now setting traps for the less-experienced, less-seasoned Garcia.
The show-closing moment happened in the seventh round when Davis landed a thudding body shot that produced a delayed reaction from Garcia and forced him to take a knee and take the full referee ten count before rising to his feet.
With the victory, Davis is now 29-0 with 27 KOs. Garcia falls to 23-1 with 19 KOs.
There is a wealth of talent in the 135-140 lb. weight class, so both fighters will have no problem finding quality, bankable opposition in the immediate future.
After the fight, when asked by Showtime’s Jim Gray if he now sees himself as the face of boxing, Davis was quick to the point.
“I’m definitely the face of boxing…Abso-f***ing-lutely.”
– On the Davis-Garcia undercard, WBA super middleweight titlist David Morrell Jr. crushed Brazil’s Yamaguchi Falcao in the first round; Bektemir Melikuziev scored a one-sided 10-round unanimous decision over Gabriel Rosado to avenge a 2021 upset third round knockout loss in their first meeting; Elijah Garcia won a 10-round unanimous decision over Kevin Salgado.
– It was revealed this past week that WBA junior welterweight champ Alberto Puello has tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene. According to reports, this will cost him his title and, therefore, keep him from making the first defense of his belt, slated for May 13 against Rolando “Rolly” Romero. Puello claims innocence of any wrongdoing and says that the clomiphene in his system comes from a fertility treatment he used in efforts to impregnate his wife. Whatever the case, given the zero tolerance rules for banned substances, the failed test will cost him his title, a fairly lucrative first defense, and it will probably see him receiving at least some sort of suspension. The scheduled May 13 bout will go on with Romero now facing top contender, Venezuela’s Ismael Barroso for the vacant WBA title.
– Adrien Broner’s first bout with 91-year-old Hall of Fame promoter Don King is locked in. The four-division former world champ will be facing Pittsburgh’s Bill Hutchinson June 9 at Casino Miami in a 10-round 147 lb. bout slated for pay-per-view. Hutchinson (20-2-4, 9 KOs) has zero fights of real note on his ledger and has mostly competed in his hometown Pittsburgh area.
– Floyd Mayweather, apparently, plans on establishing his own world title belt as the antidote for the proliferation of world titles.
“I’m going to talk with the different boxing organizations. We need to have a sit down,” Mayweather told BetOnline. We really need to clean the sport of boxing up. I think it’s time to take boxing to the next level. Which means it’s time for me to come up with my own championship boxing belt where that belt trumps all titles, all belts. It doesn’t matter who is champion because only one belt is going to count.”
No other details about this new endeavor have been revealed.
