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Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia were respectful and calm during their interviews just moments after their high-profile boxing match on Saturday. Davis, in victory, and Garcia, in defeat, showed appreciation for each other and looked toward the future.
Davis scored a seventh-round finish against Garcia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, dropping him with a sneaky body shot that forced the ref to count to 10. This came five rounds after “Tank” had previously floored a then-aggressive Garcia with a left hook to the head.
After scoring the major victory and keeping his undefeated record intact at 29 wins, Davis spoke on Showtime’s broadcast while in the ring.
Gervonta Davis speaks moments after seventh-round finish win
Gervonta Davis was asked how to describe the moment of his victory. He talked about seeing previous names perform in Las Vegas before his win in the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.
“Everything was exciting, man. I was excited to be a part of this event. I remember coming up in Golden Gloves, and I seen Floyd [Mayweather] fight at the MGM [Grand], it was crazy. I actually just seen Rihanna perform at the Super Bowl, and I was like ‘That’s going to be me one day.’ And we here.”
When Davis was asked if his big win “matched” the way he envisioned the moment, he said it did. However, he kept sight about how this is not the end of his boxing career.
“Yes it definitely matched the dream,” he said. “But the job’s never done until I retire, so. I’mma keep my head down, stay humble, and continue to work.”
It was mentioned after the fight that Davis had previously predicted a seventh-round finish. He admitted afterward that this was just mind games from him.
“It was just me trying to get into his head. I really don’t know [when a fight will end] until I actually get in there with my opponent,” he admitted. “But once I actually got in there with him, I felt like the skill-wise, it was unmatched.”
‘I thought he was going to get up’
Before talking about the fight-ending sequence, Gervonta Davis was asked about his early knockdown against Garcia. He stated that this moment was something he specifically trained for in the weeks leading up to the bout.
“It’s just him not knowing his placement,” Davis said on Garcia’s boxing early in the match. “My coach was telling me in camp ‘He’s going to come up with his head up, so just shoot overtop.'”
Then, the discussion shifted to the body shot that landed in the seventh round. “Tank” was asked whether he expected this shot to end the bout. He said that he didn’t think that’s how the fight would have ended.
“I thought he was going to get up. But I like to play mind games, so when he was looking at me I was looking at him like, trying to tell him like ‘get up.’ And he shook his head ‘no.'”
Davis’ interview finished with a simple question: is he now the face of boxing? If you ask him, he has a short answer: “I’m definitely the face of boxing. Abso-f******-lutely.”
Ryan Garcia: ‘I was honored to be in the ring with a great fighter’
Minutes after experiencing his first-ever pro defeat, Garcia gave credit to Gervonta Davis.
“Oh, I’m good. Yeah, I’m good. Tank is a great fighter. Take my hat off to him. I know we talked a lot of s*** coming up in here, but he knows what it is,” said Garcia, shaking hands with Davis in the process. “It’s all love at the end of the day. I was honored to be in the ring with a great fighter, and I respect him a lot. You know how the business goes. I wanna say, you’re a good man bro.”
Garcia was then asked about what happened in the seventh round that caused the finish:
“Yeah. You know, he just caught me with a good shot. I don’t want to make no excuses in here. I just couldn’t recover, and that’s it. That’s all I gotta say. He caught me with a good body shot, snuck under me, and caught me good.”
Garcia had a hot start to the fight – a rush of momentum that was muted by a second-round knockdown. After that, it was Davis who controlled most of the fight. Afterward, Garcia stated some regrets that he had about his unsuccessful performance.
“Yeah, I think I shoulda pressured him a little harder near the ropes. I was giving him a little too much respect, and I think that was my downfall. I think I gave him a little too much respect in the ring.”
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