Jun 16, 2024, 00:17 ET
Gervonta Davis defeated Frank Martin via chloroform in the eighth round in his fifth defense of the WBA lightweight title.
Gervonta Davis knocked out Frank Martin in the eighth round to retain for the fifth time his World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight title Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
There was no need to go to the judges when Tank’ Davis closed a combination of blows with a lethal left hand that put the elusive Martin out of combat at 1:29 minutes of round 8.
Gervonta “Tank” Davis (30-0, 287 KO) seemed unaffected by the 14-month layoff, the longest of his professional career. He remained patient as he worked out the movements of Martin, who is nicknamed ‘The Ghost’.
It was Davis’ first fight since an equally stunning knockout of Ryan Garcia in April 2023. Davis, 29, served 44 days in a Baltimore detention center last summer for violating the terms of a house arrest stemming from an accident. hit-and-run incident in November 2020 that injured four people.
Davis took his time in the early rounds, calmly accompanying Martin but rarely opening up with his notorious power. However, in the fourth round, Davis began to settle and his power had a visible effect on Martin, who reacted so strongly to several of Davis’ feints that it provoked laughter from the champion and the crowd.
A knockout finish felt almost inevitable in the seventh, when Martin began to routinely stand still and cover in his corner. Davis kept the pressure on him and picked his shots expertly, bringing the crowd to its feet with powerful punches in the sixth, seventh and eighth rounds. He finally got the knockout he wanted in the eighth, with a left hook and left straight combination that left Martin stiff on the canvas. Davis climbed the ropes and perfectly performed a celebratory backflip.
Davis, of Baltimore, will have options for his next fight, including possible encounters with IBF champion Vasyl Lomachenko, WBC champion Shakur Stevenson and WBO champion Denys Berinchyk.
With the win, Davis will likely improve to No. 2 in the ESPN.com lightweight rankings and No. 7 in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Information from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was used in this report.
