WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis scored a highlight reel eighth round knockout win over Frank ‘The Ghost’ Martin to hold onto his title on Saturday night.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions)
Fighting in front of a large crowd at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Tank (30-0, 28 KOs) gave them something to cheer about by coming back to KO the previously unbeaten Martin (18-1, 12 KOs).
Early Rounds: Martin’s Elusive Strategy
Martin looked good in the early out, landing many shots with his power punching and combinations. It was surprising that Martin could outbox Tank Davis, 29, so easily, and fans on social media thought they could be witnessing a major upset.
Martin may have become a little too confident in how easy it was for him because he stopped playing it safe and became a little careless in the eighth.
Midway Shift: Davis Turns Up the Heat
Beginning in the seventh round, Tank began applying pressure, stalking Martin around the ring and landing hard shots to tire him. The pressure that Tank was putting on Martin slowly took the steam out of his game, changing the fight’s momentum.
In the eighth round, Davis landed a hard uppercut that hurt Martin, leaving him helpless to a follow-up left that sent him down on the floor. The fight was then waved off at 1:29 of the eighth round, giving Tank his 30th career victory and his 28th knockout.
“Tank hit him with a big shot and got him out of there. That’s what he do. He sent traps,” said Errol Spence, the promoter of Frank Martin, talking to the media reflecting on his fighter’s knockout loss to Tank Davis.
“Yeah, for sure,” said Spence when asked if Martin should have boxed and moved like he was doing in the earlier rounds rather than fighting with his back against the ropes. “He should have boxed a little more, but things happen. You got to learn from it.
“He’s pretty good. Tank is good at setting traps. That crazy power that he believes in, and he has a great chin, too, because he’ll let you get off punches, and then he’s still coming at you. Once he catches you, it’s a wrap.
“If you don’t have enough power, he’ll keep coming and showing you that you don’t have enough power,” said Spence about Tank Davis. “He’ll lull you to sleep and catch you with big shots and knock you out.
“It’s something that happens early in your career and it’s something you got to bounce back from,” said Spence about Frank needing to learn from his loss.
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