This past weekend, Gervonta Davis defeated Ryan Garcia in a masterpiece in which “Tank” had the best win of his career. Davis bodybutted Garcia all night and eventually knocked Garcia out with a vicious uppercut in the seventh round. So today we are going to enjoy the aftermath of the great boxing bout and see how Davis methodically smashed Garcia and put him away at the end!
Gervonta Davis: Brilliant game plan
Ryan Garcia is clearly obsessed with his left hook. He has spent every previous fight talking about how he used it to knock out Gervonta Davis. The first round saw Davis and Garcia play it safe, feeling each other. But when the second round comes around, Garcia comes out shooting hard. Davis will not be deterred.
To kick things off, we need to look at how Gervonta Davis controls Ryan Garcia’s lightning-fast hand. To do so, he kept his hand hanging on Garcia for most of the fight, as we can see in the frame above. Doing so made Garcia connect the hair more slowly, giving Davis extra reaction time, which is very important moving forward.
Controlling the lead hand comes with its risks, but Davis knew the lead hook was coming almost every time he touched García’s lead hand. He’s been calling out to Garcia, saying, “Look! My hands lead away and my chin is exposed for the lead hook. Why don’t you go ahead and throw it.” And Garcia would get away with it until he was brought down
In the second round, we see how Davis built from holding hands and planned to use them to land on his left, which is his strong hand. In the figure above, (1) Davis checked Garcia’s main hand and, as Davis intends, Garcia threw the lead hook. Sensing it and anticipating the lead hook, Davis (2) will dive under the hook and avoid damage coming his way. (3) Now that Garcia is sold on the hook, he’s stretching himself. Take a moment and look at that third frame and see how far his arm has crossed his body and how exposed his chin is. If you can see it, you know Davis will, too. He does and (4) follows up with a left that matches Ryan Garcia and slows down the pace of the fight.
After this knockdown, Garcia became more reserved, feeling the nuances of Davis. To counter this, Davis changed what he was doing slightly to keep Garcia following his lead. He will start advancing and then back off the exchanges. When Garcia picked it up, Davis began leaning on his back and countering anything Garcia threw forcing Garcia to lead the jig.
With the Southpaw vs. Orthodox matchup, I was concerned about Garcia’s ability to go body with Gervonta Davis’ lead hook. To counter this, Davis made sure to keep his hand on top of Garcia’s hand all night. This thwarted García and allowed Davis to see when the main hook was coming. Garcia struggled with his hand all night and Davis appeared to foul Garcia and his better weapons.
Gervonta Davis showed great boxing sensation in his fight with Garcia. He knew range, when to attack, and when to clinch and put a technical clinic against the younger Garcia. This was probably the biggest factor in the fight apart from bodywork. Then again, body work falls under the umbrella of fighting wits, and Davis made sure to show García just how smart a boxer can be. Garcia could not count on his speed and athleticism all night to beat a boxer like Davis.
Work on the body
Body work from Gervonta Davis put Ryan Garcia away in the finale. And while a well-timed liver shot sealed the deal for Davis, it wasn’t the only reason for the knockout. In fact, for the body shot to work, Davis had to pre-enter the body to wear Garcia.
While a well-placed body shot can block the opponent’s body. But more often than not you’ll see that it takes quite a bit of work (pun totally intended) to really lock a fighter into the flesh. Davis went for this tactic and went a long way.
Ironically, we discussed in the Beforemath about Garcia’s constant threat to the body as something Davis should watch out for. Having the body curse Garcia’s existence against Davis was a nice read to have Davis go for the body more than Garcia and advance the damage there.
Based on the two pictures we’ve looked at from this fight already, we’ve come to Figure 3. Again, now in the fifth round, (1) Davis controls Garcia’s hand. As before, (2) Garcia throws the lead hook. Davis will drop down and this time, he turns his back foot to his left when (3) Garcia turns wide. Garcia turns away because of that knockdown in the second round. The final blow is still ringing in his head and he wants to avoid another disastrous situation. Now covered, Garcia’s body is wide open. Davis (4) pivoted and after throwing a left hook to the body, (5) would drop straight into the midsection.
In the end, Gervonta Davis was too much Ryan Garcia and his inexperience. He was always destined to win this fight and now that he’s outrunning a name like Garcia, Davis has nothing but great fights. Victories like these are the path to greatness, and Davis didn’t let the size of the stage or the weight of the moment get him down. He delivered and showed that he deserves everything just like the rest of the elite.
So what’s next? There are four big names for Gervonta Davis: Devin Haney, Vasyl Lomachenko, Shakur Stevenson, and George Kambosos Jr. These four fights are big fights, the ones that make Garcia’s fight look like a chemistry. They have hit their place in history. While I expect Davis to fight someone like Jojo Diaz next, there will be an undisputed collision course at 135. Hani has all the belts and Lomachenko is looking forward to reclaiming them. Shakur Stephenson is a former 130 champion. Camposos is a former champion. Davis will be the first side for all of those now. Only time will tell where to go. One thing’s for sure: Davis is the guy who’ll be fighting for a big paycheck after this weekend.
Your friendly neighborhood fan fight. I watch a lot of fights and my wife lets me know.