Between his earth-shattering power and mainstream charm, Gervonta “Tank” Davis’ claims he is the face of boxing today. He proved to be a “box-office” in his 2023 battle, where Ryan Garcia is currently sitting as the fifth largest gate in US boxing history.
The current WBA lightweight champion, Davis, 30, is a three-division champion, passing through the ranks and boasting an extraordinary 93% KO and Winn ratio. After beginning Floyd Mayweather’s protégé career, “Tank” broke out on his own, stuffing arenas across the nation, leaving a trail of destruction behind him. He is a proven pay-per-view attraction alongside Canelo Alvarez, but Davis has more appealing options for future megafights.
Compubox’s best career KO percentage among current title holders
Fighterko Percertagenumber of Fightsgervonta Davis.93328 of 30 Fightsnaoya Inoue.89726 of 29 Fightsdaniel dubois.87521 of 24 Fightsjaron ennis.85329 of 34 Fightsrafael espinoza.84622 Opetaia.77821 of 27 fightsjunto nakatani.76723 30 fightsmanuel navarrete.76232 of 42 fightsmamichi yabuki.76216 Fightsscar collazo.7278 of 11 figsphumelela cafu.7278 of 11 fightscarlos adames.72018 of 25 figsbrian norman jr..71420 of 28 fights
Ahead of Saturday’s title defense against Lamon Trochi Jr. at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (8pm ET, Prime Video PPV), we’ll be looking at the best performances of “Tank” Davis, who will help shape his career, including Garcia’s destruction.
April 22, 2023-KO7 vs Ryan Garcia
The massive clash between the two young knockout artists was a huge success (reported pay-per-view purchases of 1.2 million and gates for over $22 million) that seduced Davis alongside Canelo in a “boxing face” conversation following his seventh suspension victory. Heading towards a highly anticipated battle, Davis and Garcia had finished 88% of the enemy, and they expected the fight to require the opinion of the judge.
Garcia started quickly, stomping on the gas, fired a punch with Davis from the opening bell, landing 10 of his 53 punches in the first two rounds. He found it in Round 2 with just over a minute left, excavating Garcia with the left hand of the counter that sank into the canvas. It was the first power punch, with Davis landing in the battle, and Davis showed extraordinary patience against his high-intensity enemies. Garcia made it on his feet and continued to bring the fight to Davis in the next four rounds. In round 7, Davis was delivered straight to the left to a body that no one in the arena had ever seen, but one Garcia certainly felt it. The delayed reaction caused Garcia to sink to his knees, and he was quickly counted.
For all his bravery before the fight, Davis, surprisingly, has admitted surprisingly that he is heading for a fight with Garcia.
“I was nervous,” Davis said. “I just saw him knock so many people out. I see him knock so many people out at the gym. I see him knock so many people out with clips.”
However, this time Garcia didn’t get that KO. Instead, it was Davis who was taller in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,842 fans at T-Mobile Arena.
October 31, 2020 – KO6 vs Leo Santa Cruz
In many respects, this was the first real test of Davis’ career. He will step into the ring with a four-division champion who can fit Davis, an incredibly active puncher and the longer the fight becomes, the more economically infamous he has. Needless to say, Santa Cruz had proven extremely durable throughout his career that he never got knocked down in 39 fights. When he met Davis, that changed, and the world realized how true Davis’ power was.
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As expected, Santa Cruz was busy with the opening bell, throwing 241 punches to Davis 160 through the fourth round. Santa Cruz was ahead with a scorecard in the third round, but Davis approached the landing of the punch at the end of the fight. To Santa Cruz’s achievement, he never retreated, so he forced Davis into a firefight and absorbed the punishment while throwing away his own.
In the sixth round, Davis landed the most violent knockout punch of his career. With 30 seconds left in the round, Davis had Santa Cruz turn his back to the corner. Santa Cruz fired a trio on his right hand. Finally, Davis was perfectly timed by covering and unleashing the vicious left uppercut. The lights had gone out because of Santa Cruz before his body crashed into the canvas in a horrifying scene. Knockout catapulted Davis into stardom and solidified him as one of the brightest young talents in all of boxing.
June 15, 2024 – KO8 vs Frank Martin
Martin was the fourth consecutive unbeaten fighter that Davis faced. Though talented, Martin didn’t have the same name values as Davis’s other potential opponents and was considered a high-risk, low-reward option that emerged from Garcia Knockout victory.
Again, Davis started slowly, losing each of the first three rounds of the judges’ scorecard. Martin avoided the power of Baltimore fighters while consistently gaining interactions with Davis. But by the fourth round, Davis began to close the distance and landed with his prolific power punch. It was an impressive demonstration of patience by Davis. Davis gave Martin a false sense of security by standing in front of him during the exchange and setting up yet another powerful sequence that led to his 28th knockout victory.
“I knew he would be tired,” Davis said afterwards. “That’s what I was doing. Standing there, having a target so he could tire himself out, and once he was tired, I started picking him up.”
In the eighth round, Davis locked Martin into the corner and surprised the “ghost” with the uppercut on the left. Martin was on his feet, but the evil straight left follow-up from Davis was an exclamation point for yet another memorable battle-ending sequence.
December 5, 2021 – UD12 vs Isaac Cruz
The only battle on this list that didn’t end within distance is for good reason.
Davis was originally set to face Roland’s “Rolly” Romero. However, when Romero was pulled out of the fight due to allegations of sexual assault two weeks before the match (later closed without charge), Davis decided to maintain the date against his substituted opponent. Cruz was unbeaten in 18 consecutive battles, including victory over Diego Magdaleno and Francisco Vargas, although he had little value for his name as an alternative. Davis was a bet favorite that was important to win the fight, but it never happened because Cruise was apparently tougher than expected as he got injured during the fight.
Davis was forced to display his boxing skills and dodge the charger’s attack from Cruz. It was the first time fans had the chance to see them fighting primarily from their backs and setting up counters rather than pursuing a knockout. Cruz was unforgiving, but Davis was beautifully boxed, though one handed in the second half of the fight before he did anything enough to win the 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112 victory.
Davis has not kept his distance since.
January 14, 2017 – TKO7 vs Jose Pedoraza
Davis blows up through ambiguous opposition until this point in his career with a 16-0 record, and everything but one of those wins came by knockouts. It’s impressive, but there were questions about how good Davis is against his high-scoring opponent. Davis had the opportunity to prove himself against the then junior lightweight champion Pedraza, passing the test with the flying colour.
Pedraza has been undefeated in his career and was hoping to be the third defense of the vacant title he won against Andrei Klimov 18 months ago. Davis took part in the fight as a loser, but he turned those betting lines upside down in a massive opening round and belted them with uppercuts that rocked the Puerto Ricans multiple times. Against the tall Pedraza, Davis was able to land Afelcut on a regular basis, showing off great timing and punching arrangements. Pedraza adjusted to return to battle, but Davis settled in the zone and patiently waited for the opening, unleashing with devastating force.
That moment came in the seventh round when Davis missed the furious right hook that nearly sent Pedraza out of the ring. Pedraza beat the count but couldn’t continue as Davis won his first major world title and solidified himself as the sport’s future star.
