Gervonta Davis early yesterday defended his WBA world lightweight championship, beating Hector Luis Garcia by TKO after eight rounds.
Davis shrugged off a slow start to improve to 28-0 with 26 KOs and hand Garcia his first professional loss in his 17th match. Garcia held in tough with Davis early, but could not answer the bell for the ninth round because he lost vision in his right eye.
“A little surprised, but when I caught him, I knew he was hurt — he was hurt bad,” Davis said. “He’s a fighter, so he didn’t want to show it. I knew he was hurt, though.”
Photo: AFP
Davis, a Baltimore native fighting in his second hometown, is scheduled to fight Ryan Garcia on April 15 in one of boxing’s most anticipated showdowns of the year.
“I’ll be ready,” Davis said. “I’m ready for the fight. He’s been training, he’s been talking and let’s see who’s really about that.”
First, “Tank” Davis had to get through Hector Luis Garcia, the Dominican who he said “earned his spot” thanks to a strong run last year.
After the sellout crowd of 19,731 waited until just before 1am for the start of the main event, Davis and Hector Luis Garcia waited a little longer to get going, starting with a couple of low-event rounds and few punches thrown. Davis found his groove in the fourth round, landing several jabs and bringing fans to their feet.
“I was trying to beat him mentally,” Davis said. “I was trying to trick him with my hands and with my eyes. He’s a talented fighter, so I had to bait him in.”
An altercation in the stands ringside led the referee to stop the action midway through the eighth round.
The fight resumed for more than a minute, and Davis put on a show until the bell, landing enough blows to end the match.
“It was going well up until that point,” Hector Luis Garcia said through an interpreter. “Sometimes I would put him in a bad spot, a bad condition, and I was picking my spots against him during the fight. Until then, I thought the fight was going well.”
The fight headlined Showtime’s first major event at the building now known as Capital One Arena since Mike Tyson’s final bout in 2005 against Kevin McBride.
It was in danger of being called off when Davis was arrested and charged with domestic violence late last month, before the woman who called police put out a statement on social media days later saying that Davis “did not harm me or our daughter.”
Davis said he was not worried about the fight not happening, saying he just wanted to clear his name.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS