T-Mobile Arena: Las Vegas
So there’s a population of the boxing world that now calls Gervonta Davis the face of the sport of boxing. But is Tank Davis really the face, or just another body part… like an ear or eye. But when Jim Gray asked him after a left body shot to the liver put down Ryan Garcia he said:
“I’m definitely the face of boxing, abso-f***ing-lutely””.
At 29-0 with now 27-knockouts, like him or not away from the ring, it’s hard to say he’s not a truly blessed professional athlete. But let’s remember some things about this great cross-promotional fight. It was chased all along by Garcia. Which is a feather in his cap, hunting greatness. But there was no strap on the line because of Davis calling for it to be a catchweight.
Garcia’s height and reach advantage wound up being a piece of his undoing in the seventh-round loss. Although he was aggressive and cut the ring off at times well, he over shot his best punches. And it didn’t hurt that the shorter Davis was ducking them too. Plus “King Ryan” stayed in front of Davis at times. Which put him in the danger zone. And that was a key factor that Davis at the time of the finish was ahead on all three-scorecards. The fact that Davis used better footwork and counters were others.
Is Tank Davis Really Theee Face
If he gets the winner of Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko it might be a nice fight. But despite the great planning and footwork , there’s no way LOMA takes him. Haney doesn’t have the gifts Tank has. So that wouldn’t help really get him there. A scrap with Shakur Stevenson would be fun, but it would do nothing for him in the face category. At least while fighters like Canelo Alvarez, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua keep drawing 80-90-thousand people at stadiums are fighting. That is the lone quality that defines a face.
Even against Regis Prograis, who’d give Davis a real tough fight, it’s the same thing. The foils for Davis just don’t have the same excitement level to bring him where he wants to be. That’s why this fight will happen again someday. And this time a safe bet they may have it at 140. It’s okay to be as aggressive as Garcia was. You just have to make sure you make everything count. And at 24-years old he made the slight mistakes you figured he’d make. So he will no doubt learn from this.
A name like Manny Pacquiao might help Davis get there. But it’s also safe to say the 44-year old is truly done with professional fights. And thank god for that because elder abuse is not a good thing.
Davis is a skilled power puncher who can pick you apart till you make the tiniest mistake, and then he jumps on it. And that’s a glorious thing to be. But as far as faces go, sadly no… he’s still not it.
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