BOXING
Who should Davis fight next?
The Baltimore-bred fighter defeated Ryan Garcia by a seventh-round knockout after landing a crushing body shot that gave him the victory.
The boxing world witnessed once again another amazing display of skills and power by Gervonta Davis.
Ryan Garcia was seen as Tank’s most difficult opponent so far in his career, but the undefeated Davis (29-0, 27KO’s) proved once again that he is made for the big occasions.
Gervonta, 28, who recently left Mayweather Promotions, was challenged by Garcia’s long reach and fast punches but managed to change the momentum of the fight thanks to a left hook that sent his opponent to the canvas for the first time in the night.
From then on Davis dominated most of the encounter till the seventh round, when he connected a devastating shot to Garcia’s liver that closed the fight. Garcia took a knee and wasn’t able to continue when given the 10 count by the referee.
Who should be Davis’ next opponents?
By defeating Garcia, Davis seems more than ready to take over and fight the biggest names in the lightweight division.
Garcia, 24, is considered a star in the making due to his impressive speed and powerful hooks, but the truth is that fighting Davis was a big challenge taking into consideration the quality of the opponents the California native had fought so far.
Tank has expressed quite a few times that before he hangs up the gloves he wants to fight and defeat the biggest names in his division and by beating Garcia the way he did, he sent a clear warning to those fighters.
One of Gervonta’s objectives is the undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney. The Dream is considered by many the best fighter in the division, as he holds all the belts, but he has a difficult fight scheduled for May, as he will face the two-time Olympian gold medalist and former lightweight king Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Even if the Haney fight is a priority, Davis would also fancy the idea of facing the Ukrainian boxer if he pulls off the upset against the American.
Haney would be an interesting fight for Gervonta because of their different fighting styles: while Tank is a very complete fighter with demolishing power, Haney is the more agile, elusive fighter that likes to keep his opponents at bay by using his effective jab and movement.
However, there’s another big name waiting for a huge fight and that’s no other than Shakur Stevenson.
The 25-year-old fighter is regarded by many as boxing’s next biggest star and future pound-for-pound No. 1. He is undefeated and, differently to Garcia, he seems more of a well-rounded fighter with almost no flaws in his game.
Stevenson recently defeated Shuichiro Yoshino via TKO and after the fight, he confidently called out Haney in a battle for lightweight supremacy.
After Haney, Stevenson, and Lomachenko, there’s a fourth name that could give Davis a good fight, Teofimo Lopez.
With only one loss on his record, Lopez is still seen as a dangerous boxer with plenty of improvement margin. However, Davis admitted he’s not on his list of priorities and would only be interested to get into the ring with him if negotiations are easy and can make a good amount of money.