By: Sean Crose
Gervonta “Tank” Davis didn’t have an easy time of it last night at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. In front of a sold out crowd the twenty-seven year old WBA lightweight champion had to get through a few scary moments when his opponent, undefeated number one contender Rolando “Rollie” Romero, landed and landed hard. He was big, Romero was, at least in comparison to Tank. What’s more, Romero – contrary to what some had thought he would do – was engaging in an impressive strategy, landing behind an intelligent jab aimed at his smaller opponent.
None of it ultimately mattered. By the eight round, Romero was down, his face pressed against the ring ropes. The showy challenger managed to get to his feet, but the referee was wise and experienced enough to know Romero’s chances of winning were now over and all the future held was more Romero damage were he to allow the bout to continue. And so Gervonta upped his already impressive record to 27-0, with all of two of those wins coming by knockout.
Make no mistake about it – Davis is a star, and with good reason. Not only can he turn out the lights in a flash, the Baltimore native remains cool under fire, as his mentor Floyd Mayweather was known to do. It will take a special kind of individual to defeat this man. And, of course, Ryan Garcia sees himself as being just that. Immediately after Davis had disposed of the brash Romero, Garcia, the thunderous punching, uber-confident darling of social media, was calling Davis out.
“Let me handle business July 16th,” he tweeted. “I’m going to get Tank, he was screaming the whole fight I’m next so let it be.. December let’s get it #TankRolly.” Needless to say, a Davis-Garcia match would be an enormous event. At 22-0 Garcia is impressive in his own right, having bested the likes of the talented Luke Campbell. Perhaps even more importantly to matchmakers, Garcia brings in eyeballs and dollars – lots of them. Both the Californian and Davis are young, popular and explosive. In short, they represent the future of the sport. A December fight would be enormous enough to possibly draw in those coveted casual fans journalists speak of so much.
Before anything close to serious negotiations between team Davis and team Garcia begin, however, Garcia must get past his yet to be named opponent on July 16th.